Fives on fire against Mossley

Cookstown II handed Lisnagarvey a two-goal start in their JL1 encounter and despite a brave fightback were not able to overhaul that advantage.

Within two minutes of the start Lisnagarvey had their lead. Their first came from a simple turnover and finish while the second was from a short corner.

Cookstown, despite struggling to find their best form, fought their way back and David Atkinson scored a goal after great work by Stevie Allen and Andy Smyth.

The Reds were a different team after half time and created chance after chance. Andy Smyth was full value for his goal just after the break following a smashing cut back from Dicky Nelson.

It got even better when Butler was stick tackle as he was poised to shoot. Atkinson did the rest and Cookstown suddenly had a 3-2 lead. Stevie Allen snatched at a shot and Smyth hit the side netting in quick succession. It seemed only a matter of time before the Reds put the game to bed.

A further short corner looked to have given Cookstown a gilt edged chance to extend their lead but a superb charge down saw Lisnagarvey go up the other end and get a lucky break thanks to the new ruling about touches in the circle for 3-3.

With ten minutes left Cookstown gave away a needless short from one of the few attacks by the visitors and Lisnagarvey again took the lead. Despite another couple of opportunities the Reds were unable to score again and lost out 4-3.

Many thanks to Brian Thom for umpiring.

Cookstown V 9 Mossley IV 0

Mossley were the visitors to Coolnafranky on a bitterly cold afternoon.

The breakthrough was made when McGaw crashed home from the top of the circle to give the Reds the lead. Shortly after it was 2-0 when Smyth took a sideline ball himself, ran into the circle and unleashed an unstoppable reverse stick shot into the bottom corner. Just before the break McGaw got his second to give the Reds a 3-0 half-time lead.

Cookstown started the second half as they had started the first and were soon 4-0 up when short corner was finished off by an Alistair Thom drag flick. The Reds continued to press forward and McGaw completed his hat trick to give Cookstown a five goal advantage.

Not content with a five goal advantage Cookstown continued to push forward and another short corner routine was smartly finished off by Gareth Thom for his first ever goal! With the points secure cookstown changed to an unfamiliar system which paid dividends as McWhirter and McGaw scored goals number seven and eight in quick succession. With the game drawing to a close it witnessed a spectacular and rare occurrence in the form of a Richard McGaw pass which was sweetly finished off by Smyth for his second to leave the final score at 9-0.

Thanks to Brian Thom and Geoff Leonard for umpiring.

Man of the Match – Scott Nelson.