Last Wednesday March 29th, the John Scottus Junior boys soccer team travelled to Sallynoggin to take on Holy Child Community School.
Unfortunately the JSS boys did not get off to a good start. Two early crosses from Sallynoggin were not dealt with leaving two easy finishes for their strikers from close range giving Kito Curry no chance in goal.
The boys slowly began to improve, but things quickly went from bad to worse as a period of dominance in which Christian Madden, James Woods and Richard Shpekht began to take a hold of midfield did not pay dividends and Sallynoggin broke quickly down the field and struck again to make it 3-0.
From there the boys finally woke up and began to play the football they are capable of. Chance after chance was created and finally the Sallynoggin defence was breached as Jack Bruton latched on to a through ball and lifted the ball over the keeper from the edge of the box.
Another setback was to follow as Sallynoggin Struck again 5 minutes before half time. 4-1 down heading into half time was not a good position to be in and thankfully it didn’t last very long. From the resulting kick off James Woods picked up the ball just inside his own half and played a terrific ball straight through the Sallynoggin defence. Jack Bruton was again gone past the last man and with the deftest of touches brought the ball under control and finished into the corner of the net.
The second half proved to be nearly all John Scottus. Two goals down at half time the lads knew they had a lot of work to do if the game was to be salvaged. Christian Madden’s runs from deep were proving very difficult for Sallynoggin to deal with and his efforts were rewarded as early in the second half he skipped by several challenges on his way to goal and he calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net to make it 4-3.
It wasn’t long until the boys were level Oscar Yu Gong sliding a ball through for Jack Bruton to latch onto and his scuffed shot was fumbled by the keeper who could only watch it roll in, much to the surprise and amusement of Jack.
Soon after Sallynoggin were in front again. A long range shot finding it’s way to the net just out of reach of the outstretched arms of Kito. Sallynoggin could have been further ahead minutes later, with Kito beaten and the ball rolling into an empty net Nathan Boissier somehow managed to race back and clear the ball off the line.
With time running out it began to look like the JSS lads wouldn’t be able to get that 5th goal they needed to bring the game level but with 5 minutes to go David Shpekht and Jack changed that. David on his weaker foot put in a excellent ball across the box which Jack flicked into the back of the net for his 4th and the teams 5th of the match.
With time up the game was to be decided by a penalty shoot out. Despite some great penalties the boys would come out on the losing side 4-5. A disappointing end but one that makes the rematch even more eagerly anticipated.
