The Bushmen hosted the Kingston Tigers boys' soccer team on a glorious September afternoon that was perfect for "futbol." And from the opening whistle, Pine Bush took hold of the game and rarely lost control. Cameron Engels was a constant, busy threat, quick to open up space and confident on the ball with his deft dribbling skills. Mike Giuliano worked the right wing and soon had his covering fullback as nervous as they get, since Giuliano had the speed to get past him at any point. Meanwhile, Patrick Douglas, playing the inside forward channel, was giving the Tigers' central defenders nightmares as he sprinted past them to get onto anything that was played through the gaps.

Indeed, Kingston had hardly got out of their own half before Engels snapped up a loose ball spilled in the area by the Kingston defense, caught the keeper off his line, and chipped it sweetly into the far corner. A few minutes later Giuliano had the ball in the Kingston net too, but was ruled offside.

The Pine Bush midfield, stacked around Brendan Higgins, was one good reason why Kingston wasn't getting anywhere. The Tigers' propensity for trying to play through the middle was another, and the Bushmen were routinely stepping up to cut out ball after ball sent through that channel.

Cameron Engels had another effort at lobbing the keeper that only stayed out courtesy of the underside of the bar, and one had the impression that it wouldn't be long before the Bushmen netted again. Sure enough, another Pine Bush attack was rewarded with a goal by Tom Papesca after less than 20 minutes of play.

The Bushmen produced chaos in the Kingston defense once more before the end of the first half, and John Donnachie snapped up a loose ball and put it away. At the half, the score line of 3-0 gave a fairly clear indication of Pine Bush's dominance.

In the second half, Kingston found a little more rhythm, and the game became slightly more even, but Cameron Engels slotted a penalty kick home with neat precision halfway through the period, making it 4-0.

Kingston seemed to wake up again after that, and with the shadows lengthening across the field, the Tigers came close on a couple of occasions, though both chances were missed by overhasty shots. They finally got a consolation goal after a poor clearance was knocked back in over the Pine Bush keeper, left stranded way off his line.

Near the end, the Bushmen missed a golden chance to ring up number five when Mike Vente missed from five yards out on a ball played nicely across the back of the defense.

All in all a strong outing for the Bushmen against a Kingston side that is in the process of rebuilding.

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