Willowbank U19s were in action against Carryduff on a cold grey Saturday morning at Grove, a potential banana skin for the bank on the kind of morning that last year that saw them exit the title race before Christmas. The Bank had a somewhat depleted squad with 5 players unavailable 3 due to injury, this game was a chance for the players in the squad who have not been starting every week to come in, show their worth and steak a claim for a permanent spot in the starting 11. The game started with Willowbank in possession, stroking the ball about comfortably with an air of confidence that you would expect from a team that are yet to drop points in the 2014/15 season. Although the possession stats where in their favor the Bank werent creating enough chances while in control of the game but were dominant in almost every department of the match. The first half continued in this vein with Willowbank pushing for the opener and Carryduff fighting valiantly at the back and looking to catch their opponents on the break. The deadlock was eventually broke around half an hour into the game then a Emmett Llewellyn took a short throw that was sat back to him, Llewellyn then spotted the clever run of Kevin 'Stu' Stewart behind the fullback and played a quality cross field diagonal ball into the path of Stu who took one touch then fired a shot across goal which the keeper got his fingers too but due to the power of the shot was unable to turn it away from goal. Carryduff now realized they would have to score to get anything out of this game and started pushing a little bit higher but any attacks where nipped in the bud quickly by either the quick pressing of the front two Aaron Cush & Ryan Hanna or cut out in the midfield by the tireless Michael 'Savo'รย Savage & Nathan 'Sanchez' Garland-O'Neil. Willowbank now found holes in the opposition defense and doubled their led just before the half when Savo won the ball from his opposite number before opening up play with a quality ball to Ryan McAreavey on the wing who slipped a through ball down the line for new recruit Ryan Hanna to latch onto using his blistering pace to get behind the defense then cut inside and hammered the ball emphatically into the far corner to open his account for his new club after signing from Lisburn Distillery, double his sides lead and end the half at 2-0.
The Second half started much as the first one ended with Willowbank penning their opponents in their own half with a high press and Carryduff trying to weather long spells without the ball. Willowbank didn't take long to put themselves further out of reach when the Willowbank skipper Sanchez showed great vision and ability to play a perfectly weighted incisive through pass between the centre back and full back to Hanna who held his run cleverly to beat the offside trap and accelerate always from his marker to give himself a 1v1 with the goalkeeper and kept his nerve to double his tally for the day. The boys from the Falls were now in full flow as they carved open chances at will and scored again when the goal scorer Hanna turned provider a he lifted the ball over the defense for Stu to run onto and put himself on 11 goals in 8 games and 4-0. Hanna joined Willowbank low on confidence but lacking no quality, he showed this quality when from around 35 yards out he saw the keeper off the line and chipped the ball over him but was unlucky to see his effort hit the inside of the post and come out to deny him his hat trick. The relentless hunger and desire for more and more from the Bank was a great sight to see and they were to be rewarded again for the positive attitude when Dee Curran held the ball up for the onrushing McAreavey who overlapped the striker as Curran flicked the ball round the fullback onto the path of the winger who dribbled by the defender and provided an expert finish giving the keeper no chance! The final goal was a to round off a perfect day for the Bank as their late transfer deal with Hanna paid dividends when he met the pulled back cross at the edge of the area by Mcareavey and finished off the post and in to end the game at 6-0. Willowbank are now top of the league with a 100% record that stretches 10 games, keep it up lads! Man of the match Savo who covered every blade of grass in a midfield partnership with cousin Sanchez who held the middle of the park expertly as the wingers and strikers bombed on!
G.O.T.B!!
