Three league defeats in four for Welly Rec

THE new Wellington Rec ‘revolution’ is rolling better in Cups than the league and Saturday marked a third defeat in four starts, as they went down 3-0 at home to Downpatrick, slip to fourth-from-bottom in Division 1A in the process.

Perhaps it might have turned out different had Josh McAllister - with 10 goals in his last three games - set Rec on their way, though this is one that has to be categorised under penalty save rather than miss, with the Down keeper hurling himself low down to his left to claw the ball out of the bottom corner; Michael McQuoid’s initial left-wing cross having struck a stray hand inside the box.

At the other end, Aaron Kerr pulled off a couple of useful albeit less spectacular saves, as the teams went off at the break still awaiting the first goal.

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It was Downpatrick who broke the stalemate after the turnaround, with Stevie Galbraith racing through, with a slight hint of offside, to give Kerr no chance.

Wellington did their best to respond, with Josh McAllister demanding another super save from the visitors’ keeper, although Rec lived dangerously when Galbraith plonked an unmarked header wide of the left hand post and Mark Feenan saw his attempted chip just drop the wrong side of the crossbar.

The Millbrook men, though, came even closer when the Downpatrick keeper once more distinguished himself, pawing Scott McNally’s first time strike out of the top right hand corner.

Perhaps then Rec sensed that it was just not to be, and it was Downpatrick who gave themselves some valuable breathing space with Galbraith racing away to loop the ball over the helpless Kerr, after Wellington had frittered away possession cheaply in the middle third.

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Another unforced error, this time down the left, resulted in Feenan racing through to add a third just before the close.

Such defensive calamities will surely need to be eradicated before Saturday when Wellington travel to Glentoran Seconds in the Steel and Sons Cup.

Wellington Rec: Kerr – C Cowie, Black, McConnell (Nelson), Magill – Shaw, McQuoid, McNally, Kane – Stirling (Z McAllister), J McAllister.

Player out: Daryll Kernohan, S, Ards Rangers.

Report by Alan Hall

More Amateur League coverage in this week’s Times

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