Carryduff Colts swoop for a draw against Eagles

The Carryduff Colts never get an easy game when they visit the Whitehead, and even though the Eagles are not flying high in the league just now they are always difficult to beat on their own patch.

And so it proved once again with the Colts needing a late equaliser to salvage a point after taking an early lead in difficult conditions that saw strong winds, hailstones and snow during the course of the 90 minutes.

Having chosen to play into the wind in the first half, the decision looked to be a good one when Carryduff took the lead on 10 minutes when a pinpoint corner from Paul Haley was headed home majestically by Mattie O’Rourke following a terrific leap which saw him comfortably out jump the goalkeeper’s swinging arm.

Colts had a couple of opportunities to add a second with twin strikers Euan McNicholl and Ciaran Sherry both going close but the wind started to take its toll and they found themselves getting pushed further and further back by the east coast team.

The home side equalled on 25 minutes with Carryduff unable to get a foothold in the middle of the park and too often they defended too deep and couldn’t get out of their own half. Despite some good saves and excellent kicking into the wind by Sean McCaffrey, Eagles took the lead on 35 minutes.

Carryduff managed to hold on to half time with Rory McDonnell, O’Rourke, Joe Sweeney and Carter King under pressure for most of the opening period.

Carryduff hoped the conditions would work to their advantage in the second half but despite playing most of the 45 minutes in the Whitehead half they huffed and puffed in the wind but were unable to blow the Whitehead defensive house down.

Wide men Jack Rafferty and Rory Timoney were unable to get into the game properly. Fergus McBride went close with a long range shot and Sherry and McNicholl also had chances but were unable to hit the target.

Daniel Schubotz and Niall White came on for their respective debuts in place of Rafferty and Timoney and the former went close with a header on the back post within a few minutes of his introduction.

Colts decided to go for broke and pushed centre back O’Rourke up top and his presence unsettled the home defence and that led indirectly to the equaliser.

Haley found a bit of space on the right and while the central defenders were occupied with O’Rourke, the midfielder fired in a superb diagonal pass into Sherry at the back post and he made no mistake for the equaliser with five minutes to go.

Colts pushed on for a winner with the home defence looking a bit shaky but they managed to hold out for a share of the spoils, which was just about the right result on the day.

Colts: McCaffrey, Sweeney, King, McDonnell (c), O’Rourke, McBride, Timoney (White0, Haley, Sherry, McNicholl, Rafferty (Schubotz). Sub (not used) Deeny