The senior team were looking to build on their excellent start to the season with a trip away to face Gryffe.
The match got off to a great start with Greg Steven showing his pace and determination to connect with a loose ball in the Gryffe defense and a drive and cool finish saw Johnstone 1 – 0 up.
Soon after another great finish from Greg saw the team 2 – 0 up and things were looking good.
With little more than 25 minutes on the clock the match looked over after another Gryffe defensive mix up and brilliant pace and determination to get to the ball from that man Steven saw the score 3 – 0 and a hat trick for Greg (he won’t have liked Daniel Smith taking the limelight last week with his own hat trick).
This was a match determined by teams taking their chances. In the first half that’s exactly what Johnstone did. Competitively, Gryffe were always in the match but were struggling to take advantage when chances fell their way.
However, they managed to pull one back before half-time and Johnstone heads dropped for a spell as Gryffe began to move the ball about and dominate possession.
However, Lewis Banaghan was outstanding at the back marshalling the defense ensuring there was no way through for Gryffe, and in the last minutes of the first half another chance came for Johnstone and was duly despatched by the head of the team’s own man mountain, Sam Dillon, who scored for the second game running to ease the nerves.
The second half saw Greg Steven wearing a pair of borrowed boots that were a size tool small after his own burst (too many goals Greg). A couple of reasons chances were spurned by Greg which we’ll put down to those new boots.
Nonetheless, within the first minute of the match the contest was over as John Martin played a great ball through for Steven Banaghan to chase on to and lob the goalkeeper for a stunning goal and 5 – 1.
Gryffe managed to pull a goal back and there were a couple of shaky moments at the back but a fine 5 – 2 victory away is a fine achievement and leaves the team in a very comfortable position after 2 games.
Man of the Match: Greg Steven
