Colts' dynamic first half proves decisive

Published on Saturday 7 March 2009 12:23

EAST Calder Colts beat Dynamos FC (Polbeth) 3-0 in a West Lothian Youth FA under-16 League, but the home side had chances galore to score a lot more.

The pitch at East Calder is enormous and a good crowd gathered in the sunshine.

The home side used the width of the pitch to their advantage in the first half and they thoroughly deserved their 3-0 lead.

East Calder should have doubled their tally but one factor against them, however, was the display of opposition goalkeeper Cameron McManus.

The Dynamos keeper's goal had a charmed existence at times as shots either rebounded off him or went past the posts and over the bar, but he also had some excellent saves.

It was a lovely open game on the big pitch from the kick-off and respected referee Dougie Kerr had an easy job with both sets of players intent on playing the ball most of the time.

Ricky Miller had a very good first half on the right and it was the East Calder No.14 who opened the scoring with a shot from 22 yards out, low into the left-hand corner.

McManus managed to boot the ball clear in another raid on the visiting goal but the Colts were not to be denied and they went 2-0 ahead from a David Quigley effort from fully 25 yards out. Dynamos struggled at that stage to get out of their own half and, when they did, they ran up against a well-organised East Calder defence.

The expected flood of goals for East Calder did not materialise, however, despite most of the play taking place in the opposition half. And it took a wonderful tackle at the other end from big No.5 Martin Warren to halt a brilliant run at the East Calder goal by Sean Evans.

Not only did Warren win the ball in the tackle, he then set up a break at the other end and Stuart Lauder headed just wide.

As the game progressed, Alexander Lannie emerged as a very good midfielder in the home ranks. He is a player with good vision and his passing skills.

Dynamos relied on breaks to take the game to the home side and Paul Murray sent a raker of shot wide of the Colts goal. The home side created another excellent chance from a move started by Lannie and the ball was moved on to Millar who then sent it on, only for the finishing shot to go wide.

But the home outfit did get another goal before the break and it was a spectacular effort from Lauder, who capped a good first-half display when he bored in from the left wing to send a wonderful shot over McManus into the far corner of the net.

The second half was a bit of a horror for the East Calder players and some of their misses from in front of the opposition goal had to be seen to be believed.

But, all credit to McManus and the Dynamos' beleaguered defence, they kept the home side out right up to the final whistle when East Calder won corner after corner only to see shots and rebounds blocked, along with more incredible misses!

There was never any doubt about which team would win, but how East Calder could have suffered if the speedy Murray had composed himself sufficiently to finish off a couple of surging breaks towards the home goal in the second half.

Home keeper Ross Rutherford remained alert to thwart Murray and deny Dynamos the chance of even a consolation goal.

While the Colts were firing blanks in the second half, the visitors showed some nice touches and they appear to have the ability and desire to improve.

Possibly, it was the big pitch, but the Dynamos defence was in trouble throughout the first half.

East Calder Colts: Ross Rutherford, Jack Hamilton, Craig Waddell, Lee Cruickshank, Martin Warren, Josh Starrit, Stuart Lauder, Alexander Lannie, Craig Pilkington, John James Yeats, Ryan Santry, David Quigley, Ricky Miller, Craig Innes.

Dynamos FC: Cameron McManus, David Ross, Ben Cronin, Jordan Kane, Jamie McRoberts, Marcus Barnes, Sean Evans, Callum Kirkland, Daniel Wilding, Paul Murray, Josh Caldwell, Andrew Swinton, David Black, Andrew Dunn, Callum Polland.

Referee: Dougie Kerr.