Exciting encounters for the Wee Whites

LAST weekend’s two games for Lisburn Distillery U-9s were exciting encounters against Carnmoney FDC and Willowbank.

First up was Carnmoney and the Distillery coaching staff took an opportunity to rest a few important players and play a few others out of position to give the boys a chance to sample the game from a different angle.

Understandably the Wee Whites took a while to find their feet in a first period which saw them concede a couple of goals. The second fifteen minute period saw normal service resumed and the Whites got themselves back into the game with a finely worked goal which started with a great piece of skill from Kenzie Bradley and ended with Bradley Ingram timing his run to perfection to latch onto the through ball and finish confidently. The boys were doing extremely well and another goal wasn’t long in coming this time an expertly executed Jake Donaghy free-kick. The Carnmoney forward was having an excellent game and scored a number of long range free-kicks some of which were unstoppable, but at least one could have been dealt with a bit better by the boys in white. Ross White got in on the act and finished off a couple of flowing moves with aplomb and Jake Donaghy showed tremendous skill when seemingly hemmed by a number of opponents at his own corner flag he somehow managed to find not only a way out but also produce a superb pass which started another attack. A game which made the coaching staff exteremely proud of the boys for a number of reasons, firstly they kept their cool in what were difficult circumstances and also how defensive trio of Spencer Maxwell, Ben Coulter and Noah Kelly improved as the game progressed against a first class striker who caused a lot of problems particularly in the opening stages. Game number two was a very evenly matched encounter with Willowbank. It didn’t take long for Ben Gilliland to continue his fine goalscoring run smashing the ball into the roof of the net after five minutes. Willowbank stormed back into the contest and got a goal of their own to even things up. The boys were putting some excellent passages of play together but were let down time and again when losing control of the ball just when it looked like they were going to create a goalscoring opportunity, something that will need to be worked on in training. Calum Ashby, Jonathan McCullough and Matthew Moore combined on a number of occasions to create chances and Matthew scored a great goal from one of these moves. Willowbank’s forwards were always a threat and Xander Power had to continue his fine form in nets to keep them from adding to their tally.