YOUNGSTARS WIN WITH DEPLETED SQUAD

MYS Blue Stripes 5 - 3 Haddington Athletic Sky Blue (30Aug08)

The first game after the summer break saw us at home against Haddington Sky Blue but with Jamie Butler (holiday) and Liam Risi (broken arm) missing. Therefore there was a huge responsibility on the 8 players who were available including Lennon who was playing with the Blue Stripes for the first time.

Having emphasised the need to continue where we left of before the summer break by playing as a team, we started the first period very brightly and it wasn’t long before a flowing move down the right involving Scott and Cameron ended with the ball being forced home by Jason after the keeper made a good save from Cameron’s cross. Then Keiron quickly added a second from another good passing move which saw a low shot beat their keeper. Although we were playing well and looked quite comfortable, we conceded a soft goal just before half time to give Haddington some hope.

At the beginning of the second half we made some changes which saw Cameron go in goal, Ethan go to right side of midfield, and Brendan and Owain form our new defensive partnership. Despite the changes we looked quite comfortable but were unable to capitalise on the possession we had. Haddington were becoming more of a force and it wasn’t long before they drew level with a long range shot which deflected off Brendan into the goal with Cameron going the wrong way.

Despite the setback, we didn’t lose heart and just before the end of the second period a long range shot from Keiron was fumbled by the Haddington keeper and the ball spun into goal to re-establish our lead.

The third period began with more changes, this time Jason went into goal and Brendan was deployed as our striker. Without Jason in the midfield and with Ethan and Keiron now playing their third consecutive period, we were discovering the hard way that it is very difficult to only have a squad of 8. Jason played really well in goal but with Haddington very much in the ascendancy, it was just a matter of time before Haddington scored to bring the game level.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, we lost Cameron to a birthday party and with some of the boys running on empty it took a monumental effort to regain the lead through a fantastic strike from Jason into the keeper's top left hand corner. This followed a period when with Lennon now playing left midfield, Keiron in goal and Jason back in midfield, that we re-established our grip on the game. We had a number of great breaks and if only we had displayed more composure and capitalised on our possession, we would have won the game more easily.

Just before the end Jason scored his third and our fifth following good build up play involving Owain, Lennon and Brendan.

All in all, a very encouraging performance against a good Haddington team and we showed a lot of character to win the game having being pegged back 3 times.

Teamsheet: Owain, Scott, Ethan, Cameron, Jason, Keiron, Lennon & Brendan

Goal scorers: Jason (3), Keiron (2)