TOUGH MATCH AT PENCAITLAND

Pencaitland White 4 - 5 MYS Blues Stripes (3May08)

After a goal feast last week it was evident from our early play that we thought it was going to be another fairly easy game. However the physical presence of Pencaitland proved to be very difficult to cope with and as a team we started very sluggish and as with other similar games, we quickly lost a goal when the ball bypassed our midfield and the strong running of their attacker drove him past our defence to fire past Jamie. This spurred us into action and our first real passing move saw Cameron win the ball in midfield and play an accurate pass forward for Jason Jarvis to run onto and shoot past the goalie.

At the start of the 2nd period, Brendan and Ethan came on and Cameron replaced Jamie in goal. We were still finding Pencaitland a handful and it was only down to the good defending of Brendan and Jamie that allowed us to remain level. However we were unable to contain them indefinitely and following a corner for us, they quickly broke and with minimal defensive cover, they shot past Cameron to restore their lead. Just before the end of the end of this period, Jason Grossart who by his own high standards was having a quieter game, pounced on his own shot which was blocked to fire past the goalie.

At the beginning of the third period, Keiron assumed the role of goalie and we made some tactical changes, one of which was to push Darrell up front as striker. However we were still having some difficulty coping with their direct play and it wasn’t long before we lost another fairly soft goal when we failed to clear the ball and Pencaitland fired the ball past Keiron.

We then started to show glimpses of our passing game and following a kick in from Jamie who found Jason Jarvis, he played a one-two with Cameron and then played the ball in from the left for Darrell to finish with a first time shot.

Just when we thought we could win the game in the last period, a slack clearance from defence was pounced on by their best player who had strayed forward from defence and struck the ball from outside the box past Keiron who was blameless.

This spurred us into action and we quickly drew level with Darrell playing the ball forward to Jason Jarvis who shot passed the goalie’s right hand. Sensing that the game was there to be won, we pressed forward and showed real determination when Cameron run in from the right and with his first shot being blocked, he shot past the keeper to win the game. This was a very patchy performance and whilst their passing is normally much better, they deserve a lot of credit for digging in and competing, and ultimately coming away with a win.

Teamsheet: Jamie, Scott, Jason Grossart, Cameron, Keiron, Jason Jarvis, Brendan, Ethan & Darrell. (Owain was injured but came along to support the team)

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