The Under 16 boys travelled to St Andrews last night (17/2/2016) on a run of victories that had seen them establish a 2 point lead at the top of their section over Renfrew with a game in hand.

However, this match was eagerly anticipated with St Andrews having only played 4 games with 3 crunching wins.  Any positive result here would be a big step as the boys looked to secure one of the top two places that would bring a play off spot.

The match was a bit of a see saw battle throughout with Adrian Babzynski giving Johnstone the lead after clever lead up work from Steven Buchanan only for St Andrews to draw level as they came more into the game.

Johnstone continued to fight and a great drive from Greg Steven restored the one goal lead.  However, into injury time St Andrews again drew level to see the sides tied 2-2 at the half time break.

The second half saw St Andrews fired up for the task ahead and Johnstone had to do more than their share of defending with Lewis Banaghan marshalling the back line with authority, ably assisted by Matthew Stewart who had a tremendous game in his first start this season.

Fortunately, when it mattered at the other end of the park, Dylan Millar showed some wonderful skills to outfox the St Andrews defender  and draw a foul that led to a penalty which Dylan converted.  A tough match no doubt, but Dylan kept up his record of scoring in every match this season.

St Andrews did all they could to get back into the match but Johnstone defended admirably although all would have been delighted to hear the final whistle sound to herald a superb 3-2 victory to establish a 5 point lead at the top of the table.

Next Wednesday sees the return at Johnstone where St Andrews will doubtless be looking to redress the balance, knowing that they still have every chance of taking one of the play off places.

For today however, it’s all about Johnstone.  Well done to all the boys who each played an important part in this crucial win.

League table here.