SBYL under 12 first division
Sat 5th January 2013 – Moat Park Dundonald 9.00 ko - Opposition – Dungoyne Report by ROBERT MORROW
In our first game back after the Christmas break we again had to make do with only eleven players just like our previous game v St.Marys. Despite having no subs the boys just got on with it and started off with great determination and made all the play to try and get the first goal. The first goal duly arrived after an excellent free kick from Niall, finding the head of Geo in the 6 yard box to glance the ball into the corner of the net. Our makeshift defence of Tongai, Tom McIlhatton, Geo and Josh Burford defended really well, limiting Dungoyne to only a few half chances. Paddy deputised in goals for the missing Josh Johnston and commanded his penalty box very well and gave an excellent display in handling and kicking. In midfield we had Robin, making a rare appearance, and Niall, both driving forward at every opportunity and playing some good passes out to Jack and Thomas on the wings. Jack had a really good game. He used his pace on numerous occasions to get past his opponent to the bye line to get some fantastic crosses over. However pick of the bunch today was Thomas who just seemed to be really up for it. The aggression which is not always there in his game was certainly not lacking today and added to his marvellous trickery, he twisted and turned defenders all over the place at times and caused some panic in the Dungoyne defence. He was involved in the build-up for our second goal, the final pass coming from Niall to Jamie to shoot from the edge of the box. Five minutes later we broke away from a Dungoyne corner and three passes later the ball was in the Dungoyne net to make it 3-0. Euan received the ball just over the half-way line and played a great pass into Thomas, who cooly took the ball round the advancing keeper to slot into the empty net. It was then that the referee lost all track of time and added on FOUR minutes which he seemed to find from somewhere. In the 4th minute added on, Dungoyne pulled one back to give them an unexpected lifeline for the second half.
Half-time : Holywood 3 , Dungoyne 1.
Dungoyne came into the game in the second half and began to find more spaces to play in. It was only natural that the lads would start to tire. Tired bodies means tired minds and we switched off at a Dungoyne corner to allow a free shot from the edge of the box to whistle past everybody and find the back of our net. It was a great strike from the Dungoyne lad it has to be said. With the score now only 3-2 in our favour, Dungoyne really started to push for an equalizer. Niall was moved to defence to give him a rest from those lung-busting runs in midfield, and Geo was moved into midfield. This gave us a new lease of life again. We had some glorious chances to make it 4-2. Jamie had the best of them but just could not find his normal composure to stick them away. Robin went into defence to allow Niall to go back into midfield. The game swung end to end however it finished with a deserved 3-2 victory for Holywood. Next up is Portadown Youth in the NIBFA cup on sat 19th Jan – venue/ko time tbc.
Result : Holywood 3 , Dungoyne 2
Goal scorers – George Moore(8 mins) , Jamie Owens(23 mins),Thomas Wilson(28 mins).
MOTM - Thomas Wilson.
Squad – Paddy Crookshanks, Tongai Watson, Tom Mc Illhatton, George Moore, Josh Burford, Jack McNeill, Robin McIlveen, Niall Grimley, Thomas Wilson, Jamie Owens, Euan Morrow.
