YM Ladies suffer defeat

YM were dealt a severe blow before kick off when keeper Emma Glen and striker Claragh Connor had to miss out through injury but the home side started in determined fashion against their illustrious opponents and had Crusaders penned back in their own half for much of the first half.

Greg McKeever’s side forced a number of corners but Laura Nicholas came closest to scoring when her low shot beat the keeper but rolled past the post. Strikers however showed their potency when Smith hit a rasping shot against the bar and YM cleared the danger.

Just before the break Smith gave Strikers the lead when she latched on to a through ball and finished with aplomb with YM defender Kivlehan picking up an injury whilst trying to thwart the striker and had to leave the field of play to be replaced by Hannah Kilgore.

YM started the second half in similar fashion as the first and with Zara O’Hagan, Sarah Bergin and Nicholas dominating midfield Crusaders were finding it difficult to get a foothold on the game.

The Drumahoe ladies were awarded a penalty on 70 minutes when Nicholas was tripped in the box but the Strikers keeper produced a wonderful stop from Aoife Curran to maintain the slender lead.

YM suffered a double setback when both Curran and Archibald picked up injuries late in the game but had to soldier on due to no replacements being available and Crusaders showed their ruthless streak by punishing the now beleaguered YM defence with two late goals to wrap up the points and maintain their unbeaten start to the season.