As the early morning sun broke through over Westhill there was an air of long awaited excitement at Crombie school. For gathered there was the squad and parents of the Dyce BC under 11’s for their first game of the new season. Headed by Mark Girling, Dyce’s version of Jim Duffy, the usual fathers and WAM’S ( Dyce’s version of WAG’S--wives and mums) sported their new sideline outfits and hardly used holiday trainers!

The boys looked fresh and keen to get back into the action against a strong looking Westdyke side.

10.30 arrived and the whistle blew. Dyce made a good lively start with Brad starting where he left off last season and taking an early grip of the midfield. Within minutes he rasped a shot wide which was to set the early tone. Also starting the game well was Liam showing good wide play and early confidence which had Westdyke on the back foot. Again after good possession and strong play from new signing Craig it was Brad once more whose shot screamed over the bar.

At this point Dyce looked as if they were settling in with ever cool Ben and Mathew coping well with a very powerful opposition forward line. Brad then had a free kick whistle by the post before planting his first one on target with the keeper making a good save. There was also good work upfront with a super turn and touch from Ryan to Liam which created a good half chance.  A good cross from the far side by Ryan was just missed again by Liam.

Dyce got their first warning of how good a side Westdyke could be with a nice move which ended with a strong shot going wide.

First Period  0 - 0

There were no cups of coffee or butteries on the go as the second period got under way - no sir, this was raw Scottish football!

A tactical switch had been made with Dylan coming on for Ryan up front. Manager Mark looked tense as he paced the touchline. He must have been watching the Rocky films on Sky last week as the crowd heard him chanting to himself ‘eye of the tiger boys, eye of the tiger’. Well, this attitude showed right away as Brad’s sights had now been finely tuned and he rifled a superb long distance shot low into the left hand corner.1-0

"WOOHOO" could be heard from the WAMs and ‘you beauty’ from the dads as a sigh of relief came over Marks face.

This inspired Liam to have a crack and his shot sciffed the top of the crossbar. Dylan was working well chasing down every ball against a strong opposition defence. Ryan then came back on for Craig who proved he will be a great asset to the side and a great assistance to Brad with lots of good break up play, chasing and clever use of the ball. Dylan was again fighting well and stole the ball in the opposition half to allow Liam to deliver a super cross which was met by Ryan’s head, but flew just over. Had Ryan not have had his haircut on Saturday it could have been 2-0. Just as the second period finished Liam again had a shot fly wide. Peep peep peeeep! The half time whistle blew.

Second Period 0 - 1

The third period started in the same vein with Ben, Mathew and some resilient goal keeping from Nathan handling everything that Westdyke threw at them and supplying the wide players with some accurate balls down the line. Nathan was also in full control between the sticks with, again, great distribution using a combination of throws and kicks.

Ben had an effort which went high before Brad did great cover work back.Then the breakthrough to seal the game. After a great passing move in and around the box between Ryan and Liam, Ryan turned his defender on a fifty pence piece and got away a crisp shot which was well saved by the keeper. But as others failed to react Ryan pounced on the rebound to net the second. 2-0.

Liam was then replaced by Craig. As the moments ticked away, Dyce grabbed their third after a clearance by the Westdyke defence was cruelly deflected back towards their box, off the ref's back, and was smashed into the goal by Craig.  3-0

Final whistle - game over - job done!

This was a great team performance with every player starting the season well against a very strong Westdyke side who to their credit did their part in contributing to a very competitive game.  

Scorers:
Brad	1
Ryan	1
Craig	1

Report by Trevor Booth