Riverdale grab the only goal toend Hill Street’s unbeaten run

The Benburb men eventually went on to end Hill Street’s unbeaten start to the season with a narrow 1-0 success.

Hill Street started the brightest of the two teams with David Hawthorne and Ian Penny linking up well but just lacking the end product in front of goal.

Darren Kennedy was next to get in behind the Dale’s defence but again lacked an end product.

Chris Boggs came close to scoring but couldn’t get a toe to the ball when in a good position. The Lurgan men continued the bring the game to Riverdale but time and time again lacked a cutting edge when it mattered.

Penny then had his goalward bound shot blocked to add to Hill Street’s frustration while Dale’s efforts were restricted to set pieces with Hill Street defending them comfortably.

The home team went in at half time frustrated to still be all square after creating so many good chances.

The second half started as the first ended with Hill Street having most of the ball but the Riverdale defence remained resolute to keep Hill Street at bay.

Riverdale then hit the locals with a sucker punch catching them on the counter attack breaking up the field for their striker to finish well.

This left the home team shocked and with a massive 20 minutes ahead of them. Street threw everything and everyone forward to try and get an equaliser but Riverdale defended well.

Street had two chances in the dying minutes with Chris Boggs shooting wide from close range and then Jason Herron had a shot blocked.

This defeat halted Hill Street’s unbeaten run, but the Lurgan men can redeem themselves and put the frustration of this defeat behind them by bouncing back to winning ways away to Coalisland on Saturday.

Hill Street: Aaron Kidd, James Lindsay, Peter Wright, Adam Carson, Simon Gilkinson, Grieg Stewart, Chris Wing, David Hawthorne, Darren Kennedy, Chris Boggs, Ian penny, Jason Herron, Karl Cullen and Andrew Hagan.