| |
| Wakehurst |
4 |
| Killymoon Rangers |
2 |
|
Saturday 20th February 2010, Championship 2
|
| 3.00 pm kick off |
|
| Killymoon Rangers travelled to Castledawson to play Wakehurst last Saturday with Gary Crooks returning to replace the suspended Stephen McElhatton and James McPartland making his first start in place of the unavailable Ali Young. |
| The visitors started confidently enough, but on 15 minutes they were undone by a route one ball from the home side. A long ball from Wakehurst wasn'’t dealt with by the Killymoon centre backs and they were made to pay as the ball was knocked into the net past keeper Gareth McElhatton (0-1). Despite having plenty of possession Killymoon were finding it difficult to create any chances against a well drilled Wakehurst defence, with their best effort coming on 20 minutes from a long range shot from Stuart Glasgow. On 35 minutes some more poor defending lead to Wakehurst doubling their lead. An unnecessary free kick was conceded on the Killymoon left and the resulting delivery was powerfully headed into the net by an unmarked Wakehurst player who was able to rise unchallenged in the centre of the visitors’ penalty area (0-2). David McMullan had a header from a Crooks cross go narrowly over the Wakehurst crossbar just before the interval, but the half-time whistle ended with Wakehurst comfortably leading against a disappointing Killymoon side. |
| Lee Hunter replaced Marc Stewart at the interval, but things got worse 5 minutes after the re-start when a cross to the back post was nodded in without any challenge from a Killymoon player (0-3). Wakehurst were controlling the game and even when they were reduced to 10 men they still managed to increase their lead. Again the marking was non-existent as another deep cross, this time from a corner, was headed in from close range (0-4). With Wakehurst content to defend their lead and soak up the Killymoon pressure, it took time for the visitors to realise that it was easier start missing out the midfield and get balls behind the home defence than it was to try and play through a wall of Wakehurst players. When they did this they started to get some success and for the first time start to create a number of goal scoring opportunities. The introduction of Patrick McElhatton gave Killymoon another attacking option and he pulled a goal back on 73 minutes to give the visitors a glimmer of hope (1-4). Five minutes later it looked as if a McMullan header had further reduced the home sides lead when he rose highest to beat the keeper to a Johnny Young cross, but an excellent goal line clearance kept Wakehurst in control. P. McElhatton got his second 5 minutes from the end and despite McMullan again going close with a header, this time from a Glasgow cross (2-4), the home side held out for a deserved victory. |
| Manager Don Smyth will not have been pleased to see his side only play for 30 minutes at the end of the match when the game was effectively over, especially after an excellent performance against Dundela the previous week. The return of captain Stephen McElhatton will hopefully bring some organisation back to the side for this Saturday’s game against PSNI at the Sports Arena, kick-off 3pm. |
1. G McElhatton
2. A Neill
3. M Stewart
4. G Crooks
5. C Kilpatrick
6. J McPartland
7. S Glasgow
8. W Smith
9. J Young
10. W Ferguson
11. D McMullan |
Subs.
12. L Hunter
13. P McElhatton
14. D Donaghy |
