Waterside men cruise to Summer Cup Final glory

BBOB claimed the first trophy of the season when they lifted the Summer Cup after defeating Drummond United 8-0, on Friday evening.
The BBOB team celebrate after lifting the Summer Cup at The Riverside Stadium on Friday night. INLS4613-158KMThe BBOB team celebrate after lifting the Summer Cup at The Riverside Stadium on Friday night. INLS4613-158KM
The BBOB team celebrate after lifting the Summer Cup at The Riverside Stadium on Friday night. INLS4613-158KM

Played at a rain soaked Riverside Stadium, Drumahoe, in an attempt to gain superiority in the middle third Drummond began the game with a 4-5-1 formation, with the experienced Paul Gibbens the extra man in midfield.

And for the first 10 minutes it looked like we might have a decent game as the Limavady men began brightly, perhaps thriving on the notion that no-one really gave them a chance.

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Winger Mark Averill had the first decent chance on goal when he stormed down the left wing before unleashing a powerful drive BB keeper Steven Scroggie did well to get a strong arm to the ball and avert the danger.

However, by the 12th minute they found themselves 2-0 down as goals from Eamon Donnelly and Joe McCreadie left them with a mountain to climb. Donnelly hit a speculative effort from 20 yards which took a wicked deflection before nestling in the net, while McCready beat the off-side trap, rounded David Millar in goal and slid the ball home.

The major talking point of the game occurred in the 25th minute when star striker McCready uncharacteristically had a rush of blood to the head and hit full-back Willie McClenaghan with a late and reckless tackle.

The Drummond full-back got straight back on his feet which probably saved the ex-Institute man from a straight red, referee Mark McGarrigle brandishing a yellow instead.

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On the half hour the heavens opened with rain and more goals. Grant Garden took full advantage of a defensive howler by a Drummond defender before scoring his first.

The same striker was at it minutes later when he tapped in after a wonderful run down the left flank from young Matthew Pierce

To their credit Drummond never gave up and shortly after the interval Gibbens put Andy Ferris through on goal but he fired just wide.

Matthew Pierce was starting to exert some influence in the game with a number of decent dribbles and his good work was rewarded with a goal in the 55th minute.

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Not to be outdone, a short time later Donnelly made it 6-0 when he hit a thunderbolt of a shot from 25 yards which crashed into the top right hand corner of the net.

On the hour mark BB brought on the dangerous Craig Young and he was only on the pitch a few minutes when he outmuscled Paul Love, rounded Millar and scored from a very acute angle.

With time running out in the game BB showed no mercy.

Jonathan Henderson took possession of the ball in his own half before finding Craig Young, he showed neat footwork for a big man in the 18 yard box before playing the ball back to Henderson who drilled the ball home, finishing a wonderful move he had started.

To say there was a huge chasm between these two teams is to do a disservice to Drummond.

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Marty Woods and Jonny Scott played delightful little one-twos, keeping possession and prompting for an opening and Averill was pacy and direct on the wing, but they simply couldn’t penetrate the wall of steel that was the BB back four.

Drummond threw everything they had it, when the short passing game produced little reward they found themselves reduced to a number of long balls from the accurate right foot of Paul Love, looking for danger man Ferris.

But again the BB’s centre-defenders Gary Smith and Martin Smith – so good they named them twice - gobbled these up for fun.

BBOB: Scroggie, Henderson, Moore, Brown, G Smith, M Smith, Pierce, Donnelly, McCready, McShane, Cooke. Subs: Garden, Young, Kam, Livingston, Neely

Drummond: Millar, King, McClenaghan, Gilmore, Gibbens, Scott, Woods, Love, Ferris, Boyd, Averill. Subs: Friel, Moore, Rodgers, Ferris