Magherafelt Reds

A great first half saw the current team take the lead through a Paul Taylor goal which came after 20 minutes and saw Jonny Yorke in the legends goal make a number of quality saves throughout the half. The Legends kept their shape well and the defensive line up of Barney Brown, Ricky Savage, Richard Purvis and Brian Martin cancelled out the attacks being launched by the current side.

The Legends got their deserved equaliser when they hit the Reds on the break and after some good build up play involving Colin Overend the ball was neatly passed to Alex Davis who made sure in slotting the ball past the oncoming McManus. 1 each at half time in a pretty even 45 minute period with the old guys showing they were up for this game.

The Legends made some changes at half time with their talismanic goal keeper switching to striker and Brian Martin taking his place between the sticks, and Andy Mullan being introduced to the back line. In the middle of the park an impressive Jordan Neill was breaking up the Reds play and spreading the ball to his fellow midfielders Stephen ‘Weeman’ Love, Roger Purvis, Gary Badger and Stephen ‘Wevil’ O’Neill.

The fitness of the current team started to show as they continued to probe the old defence with Stevie Devlin and Deccy Campbell putting in some great testing crosses where Paul Taylor and Mark Montague were at hand to try and outsmart the Legends defence. It was Ciaran McDonald who eventually broke the deadlock with a curling lob past Martin in nets to give the Reds a 2 - 1 lead.

A few minutes later they added to their tally when Mark Montague back heeled past Martin in a Welbeck style taking the score to 3 - 1. The Legends were starting to lose shape and were badly missing their first half goal saver York in nets.

To mark his many years as a Reds forward Paul Taylor scored his 2nd of the day taking the score out of the legends reach at 4 - 1.

Teams: Current: McManus, Sinclair, McDonald, Jordan, D. Campbell, T. Brady, S, Brady, Devlin, J Martin, Montague, Anderson, Taylor

Legends: York, Savage, Purvis, Brown, B. Martin, Love, Neill, C. Campbell, Roger Purvis, Overend, Davis, O’Neill, Badger, Mullan

A fine game and great to see so many old faces their again and everyone enjoyed a BBQ back at our main sponsor’s bar The Dry Dock.

Magherafelt Reds would like to thank Abi Mohammed who kindly refereed this game and to all the old boys who turned out to play and those who also came to watch!

The Reds first pre-season friendly is against Magherafelt Sky Blues Reserves at Meadowbank on Saturday 14th July kicking off at 2pm, this is the fist Magherafelt derby game in a few years so should be a good game.

On Wednesday 18th July we host Desertmartin Reserves at Meadowbank kicking off at 7pm.

Also on the cards is a game v Shore Wanderers at Meadowbank on Saturday 28th July with a slightly earlier kick off time of 1pm.

To keep up to date with events such as training and fixtures join us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/magherafelt.reds