HAT-TRICK HEAVEN

MYS Black Stripes 17 - 1 Tranent Juniors (15Nov08)

It was early kick-off this morning (9.15am!), but the Youngstars were ready and alert right from the first whistle. The kids won a corner in the first minute and Josh's cross broker kindly for Jason in the box who wasted no time in finding the back of the net. A minute later, the Youngstars won a second corner on the opposite side, and Josh's curling effort went straight into the goals under the Tranent keeper. The visitors almost pulled one back when their striker found himself one-on-one against Innes in goals. But Innes charged out and blocked the shot with his knee to keep a clean sheet in the first period.

Tranent did manage to score early in the second period, however, after a bit of a scuffle in the box. But straight from the kick-off, the Youngstars regained their two-goal lead. Lewis won the ball in midfield and played a fantastic through ball for Morgan who broke free from his marker and was one-on-one with the keeper. His shot was blocked by the Tranent goalie, but he was quick enough to follow up for the rebound and passed the ball into the net. Tranent fought back well, and forced a great diving save from Innes, who managed to push the ball out for a corner. The corner was cleared by Harvey, who passed the ball wide to Calum on the right hand side of midfield. Calum charged down the line, dribbled past two defenders and from wide on the right fired a great shot that slipped under the keeper's body and into the net.

It was the "Lewis and Harvey show" in the third period as the Tranent kids began to tire. Lewis scored first as he drilled the ball into the bottom corner from just inside the penalty box. Calum played well out on the right hand side of midfield, and fired a cracking cross along the 6 yard area for Harvey to blast the ball into the empty net. Lewis then scored a couple of quick goals beating the keeper at his near post (first from the right, then from the left), before Harvey scored his second and third with some accurate finishing. Lewis finished the scoring in this period with an amazing strike from well outside the box.

In the final period, Mark took a turn as striker and he was involved in the first three goals of this spell. First of all, he played a great pass to Jason who scored into the top corner. Sam then won the ball in defence and passed to Jason on the left wing. Jason skipped past the defenders and passed to Mark, who played a nice pass for Josh to hammer the ball straight past the diving keeper. Then came the best goal of the match. Morgan won a fantastic tackle deep in his own half and passed to Josh, who looked up and found Sam in space in the middle of the pitch. Sam took a touch, then slotted the ball through to Jason, who beat his marker and passed to Calum. Shifting the ball from one foot to the other, Calum layed the ball off for Mark to score by squeezing the ball past the keeper, into the bottom corner. Jason soon won the ball on the left wing, and yet again beat his marker and blasted the ball across the goal line for Calum to sneak in at the back post and score into the empty net. Then a poor kick-out from the Tranent keeper went straight to Jason who simply chipped the ball over the keeper to complete his hat-trick. Jason was involved in the final goal of the game when his low cross was met by Calum at the back post, who volleyed it into the corner to complete his own hat-trick.

Another convincing performance by the Youngstars today, with every kid playing extremely well and working hard as a team.

Teamsheet: Innes, Mark, Sam, Morgan, Josh, Lewis, Harvey, Jason, Calum

Goal scorers: Jason (3), Josh (2), Morgan, Calum (3), Lewis (4), Harvey (3), Mark