The Under 16s finished their league campaign with a short trip for the ‘derby’ at St Benedict’s.

Could they maintain their winning run which has seen them win their last 5 matches, or would they come unstuck on a rutted grass pitch, much like the pitch at Renfrew High where the only loss of the season was incurred?

Regardless of the result, the boys knew that they would top their league section and be heading into the  playoffs which is a tremendous achievement and one that each member of the team should be proud of.

In the event the team started well and made the best of the bad surface.

When the first goal arrived it was a real rarity – Harvey Brown scored!

Harvey has been sensational in the centre of midfield this season but has never looked like troubling the scorers.  However, this goal wad down to real tenacity as harvey had a couple of blocked efforts before finding the net with a low shot.  His teammates looked delighted for Harvey, knowing the effort that he has put in this season.

Later on in the half with all the pressure coming upon the St Benedicts goal, a fine cutback from Cameron Coughtrie gave Dylan Millar an easy chance to hit the second, which he duly did.  The last match against Barrhead was the only game that Dylan has failed to score in this season, so he will be glad to be back on the goals trail.

In the second half, all 4 subs were used with Finlay Ross unlucky to hit the post with a good chance.

However, further goals arrived from Greg Steven who has been in excellent goal scoring form all season and Kris Alexander with a long range beauty, which Kris was not slow to tell his teammates about.

Another excellent match, with strong performances from the likes of Steven Buchanan and Daniel Smith and a 4 – 0 victory to round off a league campaign which has seen the team finish runaway winners of their section.

Very well done to everyone and best of luck in the playoffs lads.  You’ve done a magnificent job.

The Under 16 team played their final home match of this year’s campaign at the hub against a Barrhead team who had failed to claim any points in their league matches this season.

On paper it should have been straightforward, but the reality was rather different.

Johnstone started the match lacking their usual drive and enthusiasm and Barrhead showed that they are a much better team than their league position warrants.  Much of the opening half was played out in the middle of the  park with little in the way of chances to test either keeper.

However, with only a couple of minutes remaining in the half the breakthrough goal came – and it went to Barrhead.  1 – 0 at half time.

A bit of a shake up int he second half saw captain Lewis Banaghan move into the midfield with Harvey Brown dropping back and Johnstone started much sharper with greater drive and commitment.

It wasn’t long before a cool finish from Greg Steven had the match all square again at 1 – 1.

However, this didn’t prove the spur to greater things and within 5 minutes Barrhead were again in front with a straightforward finish just outside the 6 yard area.

Johnstone kept plugging away with Dylan Millar and Daniel Smith effective on either flanks and a second equalising goal soon arrived with Cameron Coughtrie tapping in from close range.

The team seemed to take spirit from this goal and the winning goal duly arrived with 15 minutes to play with Daniel Smith getting the touch that matter.

The final score was 3-2 to Johnstone and the boys will now top their section and head into the post-season playoffs in good spirits.

Before the playoffs there is one more match to come against St Benedicts away this coming Wednesday (23rd March).

The boys will be looking for one more victory to top off what has been a brilliant league campaign.  Well done to all for a battling victory.

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.

Another road trip for the Under 16 team, this time to Glennifer, and what a game it turned out to be.

A series of missed opportunities early in the first half where the boys could easily have scored 3 or 4 (also notable that Glennifer missed a real glaring opportunity early on).

However, a real cool finish from the very impressive Greg Steven saw Johnstone take the lead 1 – 0.

This was not to last as the very impressive Glennifer number 10 was given space 25 yards out and scored a real screamer to tie the match at 1-1.  It was not the last time that he would get his name on the scoresheet.

Later in the half another wonderful finish from Dylan Miller saw thew score 2-1, and kept up Dylan’s goal a game ratio 4 games into the season.

Sadly, it didn’t last long as Glennifer capitalised on some weak defending to take it into the break at 2-2.

The half time call for composure was heeded by Greg Steven who slotted his 2nd goal for 3-2.  Back cam Glennifer and it was soon 3-3.

The heads didn’t go down at all this being pegged back and Lewis Banaghan made it 4-3 before Greg Steven added his hat-trick and at last there was some breathing room as the game moved into the last quarter with Johnstone ahead 5 -3.

The Glennifer number 10 was not to be denied and he added his own 3rd and 4th goals to leave it at 5-5 into the last 10 minutes.

Still Johnstone would not crack and a real composed finish from Lewis Banaghan made it 6-5.  Surely the end of the scoring?

Not so, and sadly from a Johnstone perspective it was Glennifer’s number 10 who levelled at 6-6.

He also had time to hit the bar in the last minute and what a travesty it would have been if the team took nothing from such a thrilling and evenly matched contest.

So the match ended 6-6 and a deserved point for both teams who offered up a great show of attacking football with a little to be looked at in the defensive department for both teams.

League table here