SEASON ENDS ON A HIGH

MYS Black Stripes 7 - 6 Dunbar Utd Black (22Nov08)

It was the final match of the season today, and all the kids involved played extremely well in freezing cold conditions. This particular Dunbar team has always proved to be strong opposition and today was no exception. However, the Youngstars played some excellent football right from the kick-off, and forced a few early saves from the Dunbar keeper. The opening goal eventually came from some great play down the right wing, where Harvey trapped the ball and fed it back towards Jason. Jason charged towards the by-line and drilled the ball low to Lewis in the box, who looked up and rolled the ball into Morgan's path. Morgan met the ball cleanly and blasted it high into the net. Dunbar then stepped up a gear and pulled one back, and had another few efforts that went narrowly wide.

The Youngstars benefited from a Dunbar error in the second period to regain the lead. A passback to the goalkeeper was spilled and Lewis was alert enough to pounce and poke the ball into the net. Dunbar equalised once again, though, as a high ball bounced over Morgan's head and their striker was clean through on goal to finish past Innes. The Youngstars kept their heads up and were unlucky with a few chances, before they eventually managed to take the lead again. A Dunbar corner was cleared by Josh up to Jason in midfield. Jason played a great early pass to Calum who strode forward and stroked the ball past the diving keeper. Mark had a superb game in defence today, and was on hand time and time again to sweep up any loose balls and fire them down the left wing creating many attacks for the team.

In the third period, it was the Youngstars' turn to benefit from a high bouncing ball, played through by Harvey. Calum and Jason clashed into each other scrambling for the ball, and a Dunbar defender charged in to clear - but he lifted the ball over his keeper and into the the goals. As expected, Dunbar didn't give in and soon pulled one back after a bit of confusion in the Youngstars' box when a weak shot trickled past everyone and rolled over the goal-line. Like Mark, Ross had an excellent game in defence and was very calm throughout - always collecting the ball whilst maintaining control, and playing some fantastic passes down the right hand side. One pass in particular found Lewis in loads of space and he drived towards goal and, when one-on-one with the keeper, he kept a cool head and slotted the ball low into the net. Harvey found himself in space on many occasions down the right hand side, and had a number of efforts saved by the Dunbar keeper. Morgan also played well today, and kept the visitors at bay with many strong tackles as Dunbar piled on more pressure. A few more attempts were blasted wide by the Dunbar strikers, and one effort forced a good diving save by Innes as they tried to pull more goals back.

The Youngstars were confident going into the final quarter with a 5-3 lead - but Dunbar scored a couple of goals fairly early on to even up the match. Josh, Lewis and Jason combined well in this period and forced lots of scoring opportunites that we were unable to convert. Calum took over from Innes in goals, and made a few great stops as Dunbar pressed to take the lead. However, it was the Youngstars who scored next after a pass from Lewis set Jason free into a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper. Jason struck the ball sweetly into the corner to put the Youngstars 6-5 in front. A couple of minutes later, Lewis again found Jason and this time he chipped the ball into the top corner as the keeper scrambled to save it. A Dunbar goal in the last few minutes set up a tense finish, but the Youngstars held on to their lead and ended the season on a high with a great performance.

This was the end of the first "Summer Football" season - and while it's fair to say that the weather has hardly been fitting of the word "Summer", the kids have all played really well throughout and put on some great performances for the supporters on the sidelines. Roll on Summer Football 2009!

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

Goal scorers: Morgan, Lewis (2), Calum, Dunbar own goal, Jason (2)