Curry at the double

For the first time in the Waterside club’s history they have reached the quarter finals of the Intermediate Cup, following an excellent 3-0 win at home to Championship Two side Lurgan Celtic.

In front of a large crowd United started the better with Wallace, Curry and Robinson looking lively, giving the Lurgan back four a lot to think about with their pace and movement.

Robinson had a great opportunity following good work on the left between himself and Wallace saw the striker find space inside the box just to the left of the six yard box and just as he was about to shoot, to his credit the Celtic right back managed to get back and make a timely interception and the danger was cleared.

Lurgan relied on the more direct approach but United centre half paring of Moore and Curry dealt with this comfortably enough.

The visitors did start to come back into it and with United giving away some needless free kicks this gave Celtic the chance to exert pressure on the home goal but keeper McCloskey and the Utd rearguard dealt well with this.

The second half saw United up the tempo and the introduction of Falconer, who was returning from injury, on the left gave the home side another attacking option.

Newbuildings forced a number of corners and it was from one of these they took the lead when the visitors keeper dropped the ball and following a goalmouth scramble Dean Curry hooked the ball into the roof of the net and this was no more than the home side deserved.

United continued to put pressure on the Celtic goal with McIvor and Wallace both having shots from the edge of the box well saved.

Wallace had a great chance when after a good run into the box he saw his shot go narrowly wide.

Newbuildings got their second goal when good battling by Clarke saw the big United striker fouled in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Stephen Curry, goalscorer Dean’s brother, stepped up and smashed the ball high into the net to give the keeper no chance.

United seemed to lose concentration and Lurgan had a chance to pull one back straight away when their striker found himself free inside the United box but McCloskey sprinted of his line to pull off a great save.

McCloskey came to the rescue again soon after when he raced off his line once more to smother a shot from eight yards out.

The home side continued to cause problems going forward with Curry and Falconer threatening when on the ball and it was the ex-Institute man who killed the game off when he collected a pass on the left took one touch and drilled the ball through the legs of the advancing keeper and into the back of the net.

It’s back to the league this Saturday for Utd when they travel to Dungiven (KO 2pm) and the Reserves will travel to Roe Rovers Res in the City Cup.

The club would like to congratulate Dean Curry who has been picked for the Northern Ireland U18 squad who are due to compete against teams such as Wales and England next month.