PENCAITLAND PLAY WITH DEPLETED SQUAD

MYS Blue Stripes 16 - 2 Pencaitland Blue (20Sep08)

This week it was the turn of Keiron and Lennon to be absent for various reasons and with Pencaitland having numerous call-offs and only arriving with 6 players, it was agreed that our sub for each of the 4 quarters would join their team.

Obviously news of our previous week’s performance had leaked out (or it may just have been coincidence) as at the start of the game we were joined by 2 Hibs scouts on the sidelines. Unfortunately due to the slightly surreal nature of the game and sensing that we weren’t all that happy playing against one of our own, we started the game really poorly and couldn’t string 2 passes together. Ironically just after the scouts left, we started to play better and we scored goals through Ben (3) Jason and Owain. The link up play of Cameron, Jason, Owain and Ben was instrumental in securing our lead in the first period with Scott and Ethan providing the defensive solidity in front of Jamie.

In the second period with Cameron now in goal, Brendan assuming his role on the right side of defence, Ethan on the right side of midfield and Jamie on the left side of midfield we picked up from where we left off with goals from Jason (2) and Jamie. With the first of Jason’s goals, it was a quick kick out from Cameron which released Jamie down the left to subsequently find Jason who walked the ball into the net. Jason and Ben were instrumental in Jamie’s goal with Ben linking up well for Jason’s third goal.

The third period saw more changes, the most effective being Owain assuming the role of striker. I think that without exception, every time we attacked during this third period we scored. The link up play of Jamie and Owain was awesome with Owain helping himself to 6 goals in this period as Jamie became the chief architect. Owain’s finishing left the Pencaitland keeper helpless and although we lost a well deserved goal, this period showed that we have discovered another extremely capable striker which will give us more options in the future. In addition to Owain the goal scorer, he also became the provider in setting up Ethan whose deflected shot left the keeper helpless.

In the last period Cameron the birthday boy helped himself to 2 goals. The first was where he intercepted a pass across the box with his shot beating the keeper to his right hand side. His second involved good link up play between Jamie and Jason with Cameron blasting a shot past their keeper. Pencaitland helped themselves to a goal during the final period to bring the final score to 16-2.

All in all, once we got started we played some great football and again the most pleasing aspect was our passing. In addition we took the majority of chances we created and the goals were spread around the team. It was a difficult game as we were always playing against one of our own players, however special praise and thanks needs to go to Brendan, Scott, Ben and Ethan who were willing to join Pencaitland to ensure the game could be played.

Teamsheet: Jamie, Scott, Ethan, Cameron, Jason, Owain, Ben & Brendan

Goal scorers: Owain (7), Jason (3), Ben (3), Cameron (2), & Jamie