NEW SEASON KICKS OFF WITH A WIN

North Berwick Colts 1 - 8 MYS Blue Stripes (7Mar09)

At the start of another season when the focus is on summer football, today’s weather bore absolutely no resemblance to summer. It was another cold windy day and it was clear that the team that had the wind behind them was always going to have the advantage.

Consequently we started with that advantage in the first period and quite quickly we had North Berwick pinned back as we applied all the pressure. From a Ben corner, Keiron headed over the bar. Shortly after Keiron drilled the ball home which was our reward after a number of shots from Ben and Jason had been blocked. When North Berwick did get out of their half, they were denied by solid defending from Scott and Owain. Shortly before the end of the first period Keiron put us further ahead by following up a shot from Ben which their goalie did really well to stop, but he could only parry into Keiron’s path, who had the easy task of side-footing into the empty net.

At the beginning of the 2nd period we switched goalies from Cameron who barely touched the ball to Jason, with Cameron assuming Jason’s position in middle of midfield. In addition we brought Brendan and Ethan on to replace Scott & Owain in defence. Ben and Keiron picked up where they left of with good link up play on the right hand side which saw Keiron shoot into the side netting. We were completely dominant by now and had shots from Cameron, Ben and Lennon all saved by an inspired goalie. However it was just a matter of time before Lennon and Cameron engineered a short corner which saw the ball drilled across by Cameron for Keiron to stroke the ball home to claim his first hat trick of the new season. Shortly afterwards Ben got our fourth with low shot past the keeper. At this point North Berwick brought on an extra player in an attempt to make it more of an even game. However, having got a taste for goal, Ben scored his 2nd and our fifth courtesy of a great strike with his right foot with flew into the goalie’s top right hand corner – a truly unstoppable shot. Just before the end of the 2nd period, North Berwick scored a well deserved goal from the only girl on the pitch. North Berwick were using their extra player to good advantage and when the ball broke to the girl just outside the box, she struck a great shot, which with the wind at her back, flew past Jason in goal.

At the beginning of the 3rd period when we were playing downwind again, we applied loads of pressure and had good link up play involving Ethan, Lennon, Brendan & Cameron, which saw shots from Jason and Owain being saved. For all the pressure, it took a great shot from Jason to register our only goal in this period and take the score to 6-1 at the end of the third period. With Ben our goalie in the third period and us playing downwind, his only touch was as a result of a good save.

Going into the last period we rested Cameron and Jason and gave Ben the responsibility of playmaker in middle of midfield. His link up play with Keiron on the right and Lennon on the left created chances which on another day would have seen Brendan open his account for this season. However Ben soon scored his third and our seventh when he collected the ball in midfield drove forward and unleashed another great strike past the keeper. Shortly before the end Keiron chalked up his fourth and our eighth after another flowing move involving Scott and Ben, which saw Keiron shoot the ball past their goalie.

After our outing against Dunbar last week when we were a bit ring rusty, we showed glimpses of our passing game and I’ve no doubt we will continue to make good progress in this area as the season progresses. I also think when we have the opportunity of being able to play a game in better weather, this will make a huge difference.

Finally, both sets of players deserve great credit for putting on such an enjoyable spectacle in pretty foul weather.

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

Goal scorers: Keiron (4), Ben (3), and Jason