After two weeks without a match we were back in action against Larne Youth on a blustery wet Saturday morning at Ormeau Park.
We had an early effort from Jordan Mulholland in the 3rd minute when he let one fly from 30 yards out only for it to go over the bar. Two minutes later Stuart Hannah latch on to a cross at the back post but his header went over the bar as well. We were showing a lot of rustiness though as we struggled to take a grip of the game and our passing was very poor. In the 15th minute Caleb Surgenor had a strike from 25 yards out and it was our first attempt on target but the keeper pull of a great save. Two minutes later it was Brandon McFerrans turn from 25 yards out but his effort went just past the post. Then against the odds and probably summed up they way we were playing Larne got a goal all be it an own goal, when there was a mix up in our defence as we struggled to clear our lines and the ball was hit of Jack Patterson and it trickled over the line even though Jack got to it on the line his momentum carried it over the line. We were certainly struggling to make any impact in the match and Jai Sykes was in top form to keep things to a minimum. Our last decent attempted of the first half came from Ryan Hannah when he ran on to a through ball in the box and as the keeper came out he cleverly chipped the keeper but it went just over the crossbar.
HALF TIME: 0 . 1
Half time team talk was simple, our first half performance was very poor by our own standards. So the instructions were to lift the game in the first 5 minutes or changes would have to be made.
So the boys went out and did exactly that, within the first minute we were level when half time sub Reece Thompson found Jack Patterson with a pass and jack hit a fierce shot which the keeper got a hand to but it was to powerful and landed in the back of the net, 1:1 game on. We were now playing better football and kept the Larne defence under pressure, we finally took the lead in the 58th minute when the Larne keeper dropped a cross and Reece Thompson was on hand to strike the ball into the net, 2:1 RABA. Five minutes later we gave ourselves some breathing space when Reece Thompson grabbed his second of the match this time Jack Patterson drilled the ball across and it hit of Reece and into the net, 3:1 RABA. Now there was more confidence in our play as we were in total control of the second half. To top the second half of we grabbed two goals in a minute, the first was in the 69th minute when Curtis Higgins found Jack Patterson with a pass, Jack speed and ability saw him dance through the defence and blast the ball into the net, 4:1 RABA. A minute later Jordan Mulholland sent over a cross which was met by the head of Curtis Higgins and was heading for the goal but Ryan Hannah was on the follow up and met the ball and rattled it into the net to make sure, 5:1 RABA. A good second half performance got us out of jail after a forgettable first half.
FULL TIME: 5 . 1
Managers Comments:
We need to put our second half effort in to our start as i know we can do, so we will put this down to the lack of match play as you all know you are better than what your first half performance showed. Good second half everyone.
