Excellent start from Under 15’s

Lisburn Rangers 1

A new look Lurgan Town U15 team, kicked off the season with a reformed side and played its first game in the Lisburn League, coming out 4-1 victors against Lisburn Rangers.

Having enjoyed an excellent pre season, Town went into the game with plenty of confidence, but found themselves on the back foot for the first 10 minutes of the game, as they succumbed to early pressure from a physically strong Rangers side.

On 12 minutes Town went from defending a corner at one end of the pitch to scoring at the other, as a quick break from a corner clearance saw the ball played up the pitch and fall at the feet of Ryan Lewsley. Ryan broke into the box and had a shot, only to see the keeper fumble his attempt and roll it across the face of the goal, to give the advancing Kyle Hamilton a chance to stab the ball home.

With their tails up, having scored against the run of play, it was Town who then took control of the game and before long they made it 2-0. This time Lewsley grabbed his goal at the second attempt.

As Town grew in confidence they began to play some terrific football and they demonstrated the wealth of talent on the side.

At one stage Rangers simply couldn’t get to grips with Town’s slick football, which saw Town produce goal number three, with Finton Campbell finishing after some great play, to leave the score 3-0 to Town at the break.

Town began the second half much the same way as they ended the first, dominating the game and creating chance after chance, but it was the Rangers keeper who had a superb game and kept Town at bay, preventing his team from falling even further behind.

As the half moved on Town kept up the pressure and eventually grabbed their fourth to seal the win- another from Lewsley.

Town seemed to become complacent after this, conceding a consolation goal. Rangers could have taken a second goal, as Town had taken their foot off the pedal. Fortunately, the outstanding skill of Jake Kerr in the Town goal prevented any further goals, as he pulled off some superb saves.

The game ended 4-1 to Town and gave them a well deserved and significant opening day victory, boosting their confidence ahead of their next game.

It has to be said that every player in the squad performed outstandingly and were a total credit to themselves and management team, playing with their ‘heart on the sleeve’ and earning the whole team man of the match.