Town battle hard for draw against top team

Dungannon Colts 1

Lurgan Town U11s 1

LURGAN Town U11s Mid-Ulster team returned home from Dungannon with a great 1-1 draw against table toppers Dungannon Colts.

Phil McKinley and Darren Agnew decided to move from the traditional 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 and giving Nathan Stewart a free role in midfield.

With his pace and commitment he supplied the wide players of Luke McCartney and Tom Glynn with plenty of opportunities to run at the Dungannon defence to help create a few openings for Josh Wells early in the game.

However, Dungannon were also creating a number of chances but when they eventually got past the defensive unit of Timmy Millen, Thomas Perera, Tyler Boyce and Conor Roberts they found Ruairi Hurle in great form and he pulled off a number of good saves.

Dungannon had a great chance to take the lead when Lurgan give away their fourth penalty of the season but there was no way past Ruairi as he saved his second penalty of the season. Half-Time 0-0

Lurgan went back to a 4-4-2 in the second half and this seemed to open the game up more, with both teams guilty of not being more clinical in front of goal.

A bit of slack defending by Lurgan saw a Dungannon player avoid two tackles and score past an unfortunate Ruairi Hurle but this group of boys from Lurgan don’t give up.

The town began to press for an equaliser with Nathan Stewart instrumental in all the attacking play. Lurgan made one last change, bringing Odhran Crozier back on and it turned out to be an inspired change when Nathan Stewart drove at Dungannon defence and got a cross in for Odhran Crozier to volley into the net.

With minutes left Dungannon tried to get the winner but found the centre half pairing of Thomas Perera and Philip Balfour hard to get past. Then with two minutes left of the game second half sub Adam Craig was brought down in the Dungannon box but for the second week in a row Lurgan were denied a penalty. Full-Time 1-1

This was a great performance from every single player in the squad as they had given 100% commitment to get a draw from a good Dungannon Colts team. The joint MOM went to Ruairi Hurle and Nathan Stewart.

Squad: Ruairi Hurle, Conor Roberts, Timmy Millen, Thomas Perera, Tyler Boyce, Luke McCartney, Luke Nelson, Odhran Crozier, Nathan Stewart, Tom Glynn, Josh Wells, Lewis McKinley, Philip Balfour, Shea McConville & Adam Craig