Sunday 27th February 2011 vs St Andrews Strikers

Despite lots of rain earlier in the week, we managed to play our matches. It had been touch & go even up until late on the Saturday evening, but we woke to bright, sunny but chilly conditions. There were patches on the pitch that were soggy, but I reckon the players on the pitch fared better than the hardy spectators who had to endure standing in a quagmire. (But at least the hot coffee & Kristoff's legendary bacon butties kept them warm!)

This was the first weekend Peter was in our team so it was great to see him running out in the famous blue & yellow stripes.

Match 1

After a very even first few minutes, the boys settled in well & continued to show the good passing that had been such a feature of the previous matches. It was also noticeable that we had a height advantage against most of the opposition.

The good play soon paid off & William opened the score with a thumping strike. And we had soon doubled our lead with a crisp strike by JoshC. Although St Andrews had plenty of possession their attacks were well contained by the midfield & defence superbly marshalled by Kieran & supported by Joel & Dylan.

We continued to dominate in the second-half & managed to go further ahead after great team play which led to Will scoring his second goal of the match. For his first competitive half, Peter played really well & was ably supported by Ewan & Taylor, who both played some excellent long passes which helped set up our attacks. We finally ran out 4-0 winners after a final goal which might have made contact with an opposition player on the way into the net, but which I credited to JoshL for his debut goal.

Match 2

This proved to be a much more even affair, as St Andrews put together several promising attacks. After a solid performance in goal in the first match, Benson showed his all round ability by putting in some great defensive tackles. will also demonstrated his versatility by keeping a clean sheet in goal. As the defenses dominated, there were no goals in the first-half.

The second half was an equally tight affair, but we finally broke the deadlock after a great attack led by Ben & converted by Harry. We managed to protect our lead & ran out 1-0 winners.

The penalty competition gave us ample opportunity to show how our shooting has improved in recent weeks & Will put in another first rate performance in goal.

Choosing the Man of the Match doesn't get any easier, but after a very accomplished all round performance, it was well deserved by Kieran, who's proving to be a real terrier in defence.