Match report for the football match between Royston PS and Elmvale PS on 30/03/17
There were scenes of jubilation yesterday at Springburn Park as the P5-7 Football team for Royston Primary recorded their first victory for over 2 years as they defeated a quality Elmvale Primary team in the second fixture between the sides.
Due to only two schools turning up to the fixture it was decided between teachers from respective schools that there would be two separate games of half an hour each. Elmvale PS in their traditional blue and yellow shirts were considered the form side before kick off due to Royston PS’s woeful record in recent years that meant only Michael had ever sampled the sweet taste of success in Royston colours previously. Elmvale had also comfortably won the last game between the two sides although Royston were in a quietly confident mood due to the emergence of new squad players in P5 such as Ben, Marcus and Xavier as well as improved fitness and technique brought about through regular training at the Thursday after school club, PE and the Mile-a-thon challenge across the school. Royston, wearing their new football kit of navy blue with light blue underarms and sides for the first time, started with a 2-3-1 formation although it was Elmvale who started brightest, testing the goalkeeper regularly. Against the run of play, Wilfried managed to use his pace to cause chaos in defence and a deflected strike ended up squirming into the goal for Royston to lead.
Elmvale came back strongly scoring two goals of a high quality, carving the Royston defence apart, which meant it was 2-1 going into halftime. Following some tactical changes by Mr Doherty and Mr Steer there was a prompt equaliser at the start of the half. Once again it was Wilfried’s pace which caused problems as he out-sprinted an organised Elmvale defence before calmly slotting home. The game then became tense before the deadlock was broken by an excellent finish from an Elmvale player. Showing resilience, Royston soon levelled the game with Colin slotting home to tie the game with three minutes left. The cagey game finished with good chances to win from both sides before the referee blew his whistle at 3-3 for a deserved draw.
The drama was far from over however as there was another game to play. Once again it was Elmvale who started the brightest and it was them who broke the deadlock early on with an excellent long-range strike which followed several saves by Xavier in goals. The two goal hero from the first game, Wilfried, then scored a now-trademark goal driving away from the defence before slotting calmly past the goalkeeper. Carried away by their celebrations, Royston’s positional discipline deserted them in the last 8 minutes of the half shipping three goals in quick succession as Elmvale took control of the game. The halftime whistle couldn’t come quick enough for Royston at this point as they looked in disarray. Only fine defending by Scott and Mohammad meant the score remained 4-1 at halftime.
Mr Doherty and Mr Steer tweaked the team for the remaining 15 minutes with the day’s star striker Wilfried going into goals which meant Colin now led the attack with support from Scott, Ben and Exauce. The changes led to instant results and Colin turned and struck the ball high into the top corner from an acute angle minutes into the second half. This goal revitalised Royston and shook Elmvale. Exauce then took advantage of some intricate passing by Ben and Michael striking the ball high into the net with his left foot. At this point Elmvale were now the team in disarray and Royston surged forward for another attack. After a skillful run from Michael, bursting out of defence, the ball broke to Exauce once again and he finished with great composure equalising the game at 4-4 with 5 minutes remaining.
With 2 minutes left many would’ve thought the game was going to finish with another close draw between the sides but it a twist of fate Colin reacted quickest to confusion in the Elmvale defence to prod the ball past the goalkeeper for Royston to complete the comeback and lead the game 5-4. The remaining two minutes were a bag of nerves for the Royston side, inadvertently reverting to a unique 6-0 formation resulting in too little space for Elmvale to take advantage of. As the referee blew his whistle the Royston players shared handshakes with each other and their counterparts in recognition of a competitive but fair contest.
A proud game for all who took part with many in the squad staking places for subsequent games which will be held at Springburn Park. In particular, credit to the P5’s who attended today as well as the P6s and P7s who showed a vast improvement from their previous fixture this year.
SQUAD: Xavier, Ben, Marcus, Mohammad, Wilfried, Scott, Colin, Michael and Exauce.
