MATCH REPORT : YELLOW away to South Morningside, 9th April 2011

South Morningside 5-1 Sciennes Yellows, Meggetland.  Robin takes up the story...


Expectations had been raised to fever pitch by two fine victories, would the yellows be able to make it three in a row? Well, er .. no, to be honest it all proved to be a bit too much, and overconfidence and nerves led to a thumping defeat.


The team started with Joe R between the sticks, a solid looking defence of Dawood, Valdi and Connor, an energetic and skilful midfield of Matthew, Aidan and Owen, and Alex A leading the line. With Amir poised to make a telling intervention from the bench.


South Morningside started in confident mode but initially the yellows competed well, however as Morningside broke forward they were able to find a player in space in front of the goal and the ball was driven into the net (1-0), this was quickly followed by a second as the yellows now struggled to clear their lines and after a stramash in the goal mouth the ball broke to the opposition to be prodded home (2-0). At this point some of the old jitters started to re emerge and confidence was clearly rattled, however the yellows rallied and Alex A was unlucky to shave the woodwork on either side of the goals with a couple of fine efforts. With the game in the balance the yellows reached half time, when Ron (the special one) had a chance to alter the formation.


The yellows started the second half brightly with Owen and Alex testing the opposition defence, but then against the run of play came a breakaway goal for Morningside with a fine finish at the end of a flowing move (3-0). A fourth goal followed shortly afterwards, though the purists at the side of the pitch were moved to describe it as a bit of a toe poke (4-0). The boys all continued to work hard but the game was now beyond them. By this time the goal keepers top was changing hands regularly, and sad to say was dropped a couple of times in the handovers. South Morningside took advantage of the confusion to slot home another (5-0). However in a fantastic display of resilience Sciennes broke up the wing at pace and a fine cross from Owen was volleyed home by Joe R. This was followed by one of the most memorable goal celebrations which you are ever likely to see, combining gymnastics, dance and acrobatics as Joe made his way from one end of the pitch to the other. 5-1 but at least the yellows had salvaged some pride.

MATCH REPORT : RED at home to Pentland Primary, 2nd April 2011...

Match Reporter Neil takes up the story...


Late drama pre-match when Danny hurt his foot and couldn't play!  Could the Red team cope without their central midfield heartbeat?


The Red team won.  By quite a lot.  It might have been 13-1 but frankly the ref (Neil) lost count.  Jack scored 5, Struan at least 4 (like all good forwards he is claiming 5), Kjartan scored 2, Eyvindur scored 1, did Hector get 1?  What about Keir?  No Keir was in goals and didn't score.  Alex didn't score.  Or maybe he did?  Robert?  Not sure if Robert scored, he was too busy being part time goalie (after another outstanding save Keir got a whack and a half so Robert took over for a bit).


Everyone played well but it was a bit of a mismatch.  We'll cut short the match report and move to the next game!  Well played to Keir, Alex, Robert, Jack, Eyvindur, Kjartan, Hector and Struan.

MATCH REPORT : YELLOW away to Clermiston, 2nd April 2011

Match Reporter Ron takes up the story...

Here we were again, the same venue two weeks running, could the yellows recapture the previous weeks glorious “joie de vivre” in their play, or would things crumble in the fiery crucible of a more competitive fixture? How would the team cope without the galvanising presence of their glorious leader, Ron “the special one” McConville, away on a secret scouting mission, or were rumours true that he was being head hunted for the Barca job next season? Would the inexperienced management team cope? Would it rain? So many questions, so many unknown quantities, so much drivel, so get on with the report!

The professionalism of the yellow shone through in their ability to say focused despite the delay in kick off, due to a preceding match starting late. Though sadly the extended warm up was not entirely accident free, resulting in an injury to Joseph Bartlett, which meant he sat out the first half. The starting line up was Feodor in goals, a back three of Joe R. Connor, and Aidan (in for the injured Joseph B at the last minute), and a front three of Valdi, Dawood, and Owen. With Mathew on the bench ready to make a telling intervention.

The first sharp blast of the whistle sent the yellows instantly into attack, and they were on their way to producing a first half of blisteringly pace, and fluent passing football.  Clermiston were under the cosh and struggling to cope. Some thrilling wing play by Owen resulted in him winning a free kick on the left hand edge of the penalty box. The goal machine picked himself up, dusted himself down and promptly bent a Beckhamesque free kick into the top corner of the goal. 1-0 the yellows!

Not content to let things rest their a few minutes later Owen burst through onto a defence splitting pass, and taking the ball in his stride sent a rasping low drive past the helpless keeper into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. What power, what control! 2-0 to the yellows!

The yellows grew in confidence and produced some lovely flowing passing moves. Some fine link up play between Valdi and Owen left Dawood racing in on the opposing keeper, and keeping his calm he thumped the ball into the top corner in an emphatic finish. 3-0 to the yellows.

Mathew came on for Dawood and slotted in beautifully.  He soon found himself released through the middle, and taking time to look up to see the keeper, he sent a thunderous drive into the top right hand corner. The half time whistle blew and the yellows were cruising at 4-0. We had started in cold and gloom but now the sun was shining, as if to confirm everything was right with the world.

Sadly the second half did not quite live up to the first from the Sciennes point of view.  Joseph B did return to the defence despite carrying an injury, and acquitted himself well.  The team started well and laid siege to the Clermiston goal but over confidence and over elaboration took their toll. Clermiston broke away and scored a good goal, resulting is some jitters amongst the yellow team. This was not helped by the temporary management having lost the plot with substitutions, trying to get everyone involved. At one point counting the players on the pitch to make sure he had the right number on. Does Pep Gaurdiola have to do this, or does he have someone to do it for him? However the Sciennes team began to reassert themselves and resumed their territorial dominance. Aidan and Connor being solid and committed in defence, with some fine balls prompting attacking play. The team kept the ball well and created a number of fine chances, with Connor being particularly unlucky on two occasions, and Owen being tackled at the past minute when it had seemed that a hat trick was a certainty.

Clermiston however rallied again. In a fierce spell of attacking play Feodor made a particularly brave save, resulting in a facial injury, but the ball unfortunately broke out a Clermiston player who was able to send it past the stricken keeper. Feodor was forced to come off briefly with Aidan taking over in goals. The yellow continued to enjoy the bulk of the play for the remaining few minutes but were unable to add to their total, though their control of the game did see them safely over the finishing line. A fine 4-2 win, and a first half performance that will linger long in the memory.