Lisburn lose out in tight finish on visit to Randalstown

The Gary Longwell coached Randalstown were sitting in mid table in this very competitive league and they got off to a great, if fortuitous, start within two minutes when Lisburn failed to protect the ball and the home hooker gained possession twenty metres out to burst through into open space and put his support runner in under the posts for a seven point lead before sweat had even been broken.

Lisburn then buckled down to the task and within minutes they had reduced the leeway from a Chris Knox penalty. As the game progressed Lisburn came more and more into the game and on fifteen minutes a great run from the backs saw centre and Captain, Adam Melville, race up the field to put Reece Symonds into space but the winger was cornered just before he reached the line and the threat was snuffed out.

Nevertheless, Lisburn kept the pressure up and were rewarded ten minutes later when inside centre David Gilkinson gained possession and he cleverly feinted the pass to then put fullback Robin Brown through and he broke the tackle to score under the posts. The Knox conversion gave Lisburn a 7-10 lead.

Randalstown came back again and after putting pressure on the Lisburn line were rewarded with the unfortunate sin binning of David Gilkinson and the resultant penalty made it 10 points each, a score line which lasted until half time.

The second half saw both teams go hammer and tongs for the vital win and on the balance of play it looked as if Lisburn were eventually getting on top through their sheer persistency.

However, Randalstown got a penalty on twenty minutes which Knox cancelled out ten minutes later with a similar effort from 35 metres to make it 13-13.

Both teams attacked for the final ten minutes but alas Lisburn’s scrums, which had been dominant for most of the game, started to fall apart and with the lack of decent possession the visitor’s dangerous midfield backs were starved of attacking ball and with just minutes to go the Randalstown backline found a gap in the Lisburn defence to breach the line and score from twenty metres out.

Lisburn, despite the much improved display, were now down 18-13 and did not have enough time to mount a comeback. The game ended for them with the consolation of just a bonus point.

Lisburn will have learned from this encounter and if they can repeat their effort and performance in the remaining games will be well capable of raising a number of vitally needed wins and much needed league points. Next Saturday they have a free date and the 2s and 3s meet Ballyclare 2s and 3s in their respective cup competitions.