Goals galore in the U10s’ game

Ardoyne started off brightly and created the first chance of the game but Distillery keeper Lewis Doyle came racing off his line to make a great save at the advancing strikers feet. It was a brave piece of goalkeeping by Lewis, who was injured in the process but managed to play on.

The Wee Whites started to get a foothold in the game and after some great build up play between Conall Cunningham and Ross White, Jake Donaghy rattled the bar with a great shot. Minutes later Jake was again unlucky as another super effort went just the wrong side of the post.

The goal that had been coming duly arrived and it was worth waiting for. Another great passage of play between the Jake, Ross and Conall axis led to a corner which was taken short to Conall whose jinking run into the box created a chance for Ross which was blocked. Defender Spencer Maxwell had pushed forward and he swung a delightful cross into the box which found Conall at the back post who, despite being the smallest player in the team, scored with a well directed header.

As the first break neared disaster struck when a hand ball led to an Ardoyne free kick on the edge of the area. As the Whites team were trying to replace injured defender Ben Coulter, the Ardoyne forward placed the ball and duly stuck it into the bottom corner. It was a tad harsh on the boys but a great piece of opportunism from the Ardoyne player and something hopefully the boys will learn from.

It then got worse as Ardoyne then scored again seconds later, the midfielder hammering the ball home from distance. The ball had only settled in the back of the net when the whistle went to end this most dramatic of first periods.

It took Distillery a while to find their composure again after losing two goals in such circumstances but when they did they scored another goal of the highest quality. Jake found Conall on the left wing, the winger shaped as if to take on his marker on the outside but instead played a beautifully disguised pass inside to Ross who showed great composure to open his body and roll the ball into the bottom corner, a really first class goal.

The third period saw Ardoyne get back on top and dominate possession but the Wee Whites worked tirelessly and kept their opponents chances to a mimimum. It was during this period that defenders Noah Kelly and Spencer Maxwell were at their best to continually thwart the Ardoyne attackers and they were ably assisted by Bradley Ingram and Calum Ashby who made some telling tackles and interceptions.