Home loss for Seconds

DROMORE Amateurs Seconds, sponsored by McDonald’s Mace, were made to swallow the bitter taste of defeat for the second week in a row with this 3-0 home loss to their counterparts from 18th Newtownabbey OB.

Dromore found themselves unable to bounce back from the previous week’s 1-0 league defeat away to Portaferry, and zero points from a possible six is a disappointing return that causes some dejection in the Amateurs dressing room.

Newtownabbey dominated the first half of Saturday’s contest at Ferris Park, eventually making the breakthrough on 30 minutes with an unchallenged header from one of a succession of corners.

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Keeper Neil Beggs kept his side in the game with a string of excellent saves before it looked like Dromore had equalised early in the second half - Stuart Curran drilled an 18-yard effort on goal, the Newtownabbey netminder spilled the shot but Dromore claims that the ball crossed the line were waved away by the referee.

In virtually the next move the visitors doubled their lead with another headed effort, and a Dromore own goal soon afterwards appeared to signify the end of this match as a contest.

But it’s no exaggeration to say that in the last 25 minutes, the Amateurs - boosted by the fresh impetus of subs Beattie, Smith and McCauley - created enough clear goalscoring opportunities to have claimed at least an unlikely draw.

Newtownabbey relinquished their stranglehold on the match, made numerous mistakes, and time after time Dromore carved their opponents wide open - only for a lack of accuracy and composure in front of goal to deny the Amateurs’ bid to even get on the scoresheet.

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The men from Monkstown left Ferris Park with the full complement of points, and also left the Dromore players in doubt that they need to step up their performances if they are get back to winning ways.

Team: N Beggs, R McMurray, P Gordon, G Hill, R Ward, C Harper, A Noble, S Curran, D Gibson, S Henderson, C Lockhart. Subs: D McCauley, M Beattie, P Smith.

The Seconds park league matters to one side this weekend when they play host to Lurgan Thistle in a Mid Ulster Shield tie.

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