Six goal thriller at Magee

Institute U17...(0) 3

INSTITUTE U17’s ended 2011 in disappointing fashion after letting a three goal half-time lead slip to Culmore, at Magee playing fields on Saturday.

Goals from Daz Matharu, Gareth Irvine and King had put the visitors in a commanding position but a Culmore equaliser deep into injury time denied them a victory which they had fully deserved after producing some outstanding football and dominating the majority of the game.

Good work on the right gave Jack King the opportunity to deliver a telling cross and Daz Matharu’s header looped over the keeper to give Stute the lead on 18 minutes.

Five minutes later it was two up, after Jordan Greer’s cross from the opposite flank was only partially cleared and Gareth Irvine pounced to side foot home from eight yards.

The Drumahoe boys were in complete control and shortly afterwards they produced a stunning counter-attack to make it three.

Robbie Brown’s headed clearance was helped on first-time by Matharu to Irvine who burst into the Culmore half, knocked the ball around the on-rushing keeper and from close to the by-line he cut the ball back for King to fire into an empty net.

There seemed little danger to the ’Stute goal until midway through the second period when Culmore pulled a goal back following two miss-hit shots.

A free kick from outside the penalty box was squared across goal and whilst the first shot was sliced, the ball fell to a team-mate inside the box and his effort deceived ’Stute keeper David McFaul who found himself unable to reach the ball as it trickled into the corner of the net.

The visitors continued to attack and Andrew Stevenson’s shot from distance grazed the bottom of the post as the Culmore keeper looked on helplessly.

Within moments Culmore had pulled another goal back from the penalty spot after Stevenson was adjudged to have pushed an opponent whist defending a corner kick.

Despite this set-back the visitors continued to play positive attacking football and came close to restoring their two goal advantage on a couple of occasions before they were so cruelly denied right at the death.

A soft free-kick was conceded wide on the left and all that Culmore could do was pump the ball into the danger area.

Unfortunately for keeper McFaul, he misjudged the flight of the cross and the ball was bundled into the ’Stute net to the delight of the home side.

This was a hugely disappointing result after such an impressive display by the ’Stute boys but they must take credit for the quality of so much of their play which is a testimony to the effort given by each player.

Institute U17: David McFaul, Gareth Connor, Conor Moran, Shane Porter, Robbie Brown, Andrew Stevenson, Jack King, Lee Olphert, Daz Matharu, Gareth Irvine, Jordan Greer. Subs: Connor Neely, Andrew Callen, Matthew Pierce, James Ferry, Aaron Tarr.