Our first match of the new season saw us playing Carryduff Colts in the Premier League at Victoria Park on probably the smallest pitch in the Area.
This was always going to be a tight match as both teams knows each other very well, Carryduff finished last Season in second place in the first division and we finished fourth but both teams found themselves promoted to the Premier League, so this would be a challenging seasons for us both.
The pitch was not one of the best pitches to try and play football as it is very small and the grass was pretty long as well but both teams made it a good match to watch and much praise must go to the Referee Dennis Campbell who had a good game and let the game flow as much as possible. Chances came and went for both teams our best chance came from Ryan Hannah when Jack Patterson sent over across and Ryan met it at the back post but on his weaker foot hit his shot straight at the keeper but it was 20 minutes in before the first goal was score and it came from Carryduff when they floated over a cross in to the box which was met by the head of their striker who lobbed his header over a helpless Jai Sykes in goals. Both teams kept probing but in fairness cancelled each other out with two strong defences and at half time Carryduff went in 1 : 0 up.
Team talk was simple that we needed to get control of the midfield and in the second half we started to get more control and within 5 minutes of the restart Jack Patterson saw his shot go just over the crossbar then Stuart Graham saw his shot come of the post and it looked as if it just wasn't going to be our day but on the 12th minute of the second half we got a corner and a fine bit of clever play when Matthew Guest took a short corner to Stuart Graham who immediately returned the ball to Matthew who took one touch then coolly curled the ball in to the top right had corner giving the goalkeeper no chance a superb equaliser 1 : 1. after that both teams had their chances but it looked destined for a draw but in the last seconds of the match Carryduff got a break inside our box and it looked as if it was a certain winner only to see Jai Sykes pull of a wonderful save low at his left hand post and earn a point at least for his team.
FULL TIME : 1.1
This was a game played in good spirit by both teams from start to finish and both sets of players should be commended on their good sportsmanship and behaviour, thanks to Carryduff for a good match see you all soon.
