Another road trip on Thursday 10th October as the Under 16 team made the journey to face Barrhead.

Not an easy one for team selection with a number of players unavailable for a variety of reasons, but a 13 man squad was cobbled together to make the trip.

The 1st half was a very even affair with neither team making clear inroads on goal.  It was looking like the first goal would be critical in separating the teams, but half time came with neither team on the scoreboard, and with both goalkeepers having little to do.

From a Johnstone perspective, this was partially due to the excellent central defensive partnership of the usually free-scoring Lewis Banaghan and Chris Kerr, making a first start for the school team in an unfamiliar position.  A brilliant understanding from the boys and a really solid defensive performance all round.

The 2nd half and Johnstone struck first blood with a soft goal converted (he claims) by Daniel Smith.

From this point onwards the whole shape of the match changed, and there was only one team in it.

Further goals followed from Dylan Miller, Ben Lauchlan and Cameron Coughtrie and a very convincing 4 – 0 victory which had seemed unlikely after the closeness of the match in the first half.

Some fine performances all round with Cameron Coughtrie especially impressive and a good showing from Lewis McIlroy on the right side of midfield as the boys went to the top of their league section.

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Hard on the heels of the fantastic victory against Gryffe came another home tie for Johnstone against an equally impressive St Ninians B team.  Coming the day after the Gryffe match, there were fears that tiredness would become an issue.

In the event another fine team display saw Johnstone win the match 1 – 0 despite a last minute penalty miss from the usually so reliable Lewis Banaghan.  The awarding of the penalty saw a second yellow produced to a St Ninians player followed by another St Ninians player receiving a second yellow for dissent.  In all 3 St Ninian’s players were dismissed in a match which had very few hard tackles and no niggles between the 2 teams, so it was disappointing for the match to end up this way.

In the event, even at 11 vs 11, the Johnstone boys had another fine match forcing a series of excellent stops from the very impressive St Ninians goal keeper.  Lewis Harding, filling in for the injured Irwin Gray, was much quieter and only really called into action on one occasion when he made an excellent save down low to his right with the score at 0 – 0.

When the goal came it was delivered by Dylan Miller with a super cool finish under the outcoming keeper.

Great goal Dylan and another great performance from the team.  No goals this time, but a man of the match winning performance from the skipper Lewis Banaghan.

The Under 15s played Gryffe at home on Monday 16th March.  After a crushing 4 – 0 defeat the previous week to the same team the boys were keen to make amends.

In the event, the whole team was magnificent in a match where a 3 – 1 victory was secured against a Gryffe team who had a man sent off.  Regardless of this, Johnstone grew in confidence as the game wore on after conceding an early goal and it was no surprise to see them run out victors in the best team performance witnessed so far this season.

A great performance from Adrian Babczynski covering at full back and on this performance he’ll be very hard to dislodge.

A hat trick from none other than Lewis Banaghan was the icing on the cake, but special mention goes to the man of the match, Greg Steven who ran his socks off and provided a constant threat coming in from the right side of midfield.

A great performance against a previously unbeaten Gryffe team  that leaves the possibility of winning the combined Under 15 A/B section.

Tuesday the 10th of March  2015 saw the team make the short trip to Houston to play an undefeated in the league Gryffe team with the boys keen to make amends for their first league defeat the previous week at St Luke’s following on from 4 impressive victories.

A closely fought first half saw the team unlucky to go in at the break a goal down after a bit of a defensive mix up.

The second half saw a spirited start from Johnstone and a great run by Greg Steven saw him ghost past 3 players and hit a fine shot which unfortunately struck the post before rebounding to safety.  A gaol at this stage would have been more than deserved.

Unfortunately, the Gryffe number 10 then scored with a fine header to put them 2 – 0 up which cause Johnstone heads to drop a little.

A late mini-collapse resulted in a final score of 4 – 0 to Gryffe who on the day deserved the victory but the margin of victory was certainly harsh.

Ultimate disappointment but special mention must be made to Harvey Brown who had an outstanding match and was a clear man of the match.  harvey covered every inch of the pitch in a high energy performance including crunching tackles, precision passes and intelligent runs with the ball at his feet.  On no account did Harvey deserve to finish on the losing side in a match where he, as ever, took the knocks that came his way with customary good grace.  Nobody epitomises the spirit of “it’s not the winning but the taking part that counts” more than Harvey.  Well done that man.

Next up on Monday 16th March is a chance of revenge with Gryffe heading to Johnstone for the return tie.

No team has come to the Johnstone Astro Dome and come away with the points.  Let’s maintain that proud record next week.