A case of what might have been

Dollingstown made the daunting trip to H&W Welders who had a resounding 6-1 victory recently against Sport&Leisure in the semi final of the Steels and Sons Cup.
@Press Eye Ltd Northern Ireland-6th December 2014
Mandatory Credit -Brian Little/Presseye

H&W Welders William Armstrong     and Dollingstown  Richard Donaghy    during Saturday's Irish Cup 4th Round match at Tillysburn Park.
Picture by Brian Little/Presseye@Press Eye Ltd Northern Ireland-6th December 2014
Mandatory Credit -Brian Little/Presseye

H&W Welders William Armstrong     and Dollingstown  Richard Donaghy    during Saturday's Irish Cup 4th Round match at Tillysburn Park.
Picture by Brian Little/Presseye
@Press Eye Ltd Northern Ireland-6th December 2014 Mandatory Credit -Brian Little/Presseye H&W Welders William Armstrong and Dollingstown Richard Donaghy during Saturday's Irish Cup 4th Round match at Tillysburn Park. Picture by Brian Little/Presseye

Manager Gary Duke made some changes to his team formation and in the first half it was Dollingstown who completely dominated the game playing a bright attractive style of football on a difficult uneven surface.

On 15 minutes Ritchie Thompson left Philip Simpson for dead on the half way line but shot tamely at the keeper.

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A minute later Thompson header was cleared off the line from an Adam Walker free kick.

The Welders lost defender Gary Spence when he was sent off for bringing down Jordan Gibson on the edge of the box when through on goals. However Dollingstown couldn’t capitalise on resulting free kick and went on to miss three other clear cut chances when they literally dominated the opening 45 minutes.

In the second half the roles were reversed with the Welders becoming more dominant in terms of procession but very little in the final third which was a credit to the hard work by central midfielders Andy Hamilton and Andy King.

Indeed it wasn’t until after the hour mark that they had there first serious effort on target when the centre half fired wide from a corner.

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Both sides made substitutions as they went in search of the opening goal which didn’t arrive until the 80th minute when top scorer Michael McClellan fired low into the corner from a right wing cross.

This was tough on Dollingstown who had more chances but lacked the finish inside the area. Then in the final minute the Welders wrapped up the victory when sub Chris Middleton scored a good goal from the edge of the area.

Team: Kris Fletcher, Jake Redpath, Dwayne Kerr, Jordan Gibson, Adam Walker, Kyle Robinson, Richard Donaghy, Ritchie Thompson, Andy King, Andy Hamilton , Aaron Moffett.

Subs: Adam Montgomery, Ashley Gregg , Neil Clydesdale

Gavin O’Neill, Michael Fegan. On Saturday Dollingstown remain on cup duty as they travel to Ballymoney United in the Intermediate Cup.