Youngstars Stage Great Comeback

MYS Blue Stripes 5 - 3 Dunbar United White (15Mar08)

After the torrential rain of last week against North Berwick Hawks, it was nice to play on a reasonably dry day albeit it was evident that the pitch still bore the effects of last week’s rain in being very soft under foot.

We were able to pick from almost a full squad as only Ethan was missing through illness. In the first 15 minute period we started really brightly and quickly pressed Dunbar back into their half. It did not take long for us to score with a good move involving Jason Grossart and Jason Jarvis whose pass found Cameron and he managed to force home the ball after his initial shot was blocked. Our pressure soon produced a second goal which was created by Cameron. He squared the ball from wide on the right and it was turned in by Jason Jarvis. It continued to be one-way traffic but as is sometimes the case, we stopped playing as a team and it was individual errors from players trying to do too much, which allowed Dunbar back into the game. Shortly before they did score, Owain pulled off a fantastic save from a vicious shot which he managed to turn away for a corner. The goal we conceded was a quite soft as we lost the ball in midfield and rather than come and collect the ball, Owain thought that our defenders would clear the danger. However the Dunbar player outran our defence and fired a low shot past Owain.

We made changes at the beginning of the second period and this seemed to disrupt our fluency as quite quickly we went from being one ahead to being one behind as a big Dunbar forward fired two shots past Jamie in quick succession. We still created chances with a quick Owain clearance finding Keiron whose cross was met by a Jason Jarvis header which just glanced wide.

At the beginning of the third period we seemed to resume our composure and started to pass the ball. This led to a period of sustained pressure which was rewarded with Jason Grossart striking home a very sweet left foot half volley from the edge of the box which levelled the score. The goal had been created by Cameron and Jason Jarvis.

We seemed much more secure at the back and this gave us the platform to take the lead again. The move started with Brendan who was playing in goal, rolling the ball to Scott. He played a great pass to Jason Grossart down the right who then found Cameron in midfield. He in turn picked out Jason Jarvis who after hearing a shout from Keiron, played a great pass which allowed Keiron to turn and shoot low past a very good Dunbar keeper – a great example of allowing the ball to do the work and playing as a team. Our confidence was high and after forcing a corner on the left from a deflected shot by Darrell, Jason Jarvis delivered a fantastic corner which came at a great height for Jason Grossart who merely angled his head to guide a bullet header into the net.

After the defeat by North Berwick last week the team responded in the best way possible with everyone contributing to defeat a very capable Dunbar team whose goalie made some truly inspired saves particularly early in the game when we were the dominant team. Finally a special mention for Brendan, who was in goal for the last 2 periods and kept a clean sheet. However he would be first to acknowledge the efforts of his defenders Scott, Jamie and Owain in helping him achieve this.

Teamsheet: Owain, Scott, Jamie, Jason G, Cameron, Keiron, Jason J, Brendan, Darrell.

Goal scorers: Cameron, Jason J, Jason G (2), Keiron