Rathfriland Rangers suffer defeat at bottom of the league side UUJ

With several players unavailable, the Whites travelled to play bottom of the league UUJ.

It was UUJ who started the brighter and took a deserved lead when they scored from a corner which was only partially cleared to the edge of the box.

After an initial strike wasn’t cleared the UUJ striker was at hand to knock in unmarked from inside the six-yard box.

Rathfriland responded well and had the perfect opportunity to respond when Darren McGrath’s pace took him beyond the defender inside the UUJ penalty area before being brought down with a crude challenge.

Costello took the resulting penalty and struck the foot of the post with the rebound falling to a UUJ player to clear.

Rathfriland started the second half brightly and dominated most of the play with only half chances falling to Ally Wilson and Karl McVerry.

McGrath had another positive game in left wing position and constantly showed his attacking intent.

After committing more men forward in attack Rathfriland were caught by a sucker punch when UUJ pounced on a mistake in midfield. After a string of passes the UUJ player capitalised with a side foot finish after a neat turn inside the box.

The win brings UUJ back into the relegation fight and pushes Rathfriland back into bottom spot, albeit with games in hand to play over a very busy next few weeks.