Unbeaten run ends for South Firsts

North Down Firsts 2 South Antrim Firsts 1

The Firsts travelled the already well beaten track to Comber Leisure Centre to play a North Down team that only ten days previously had beaten the Lisburn side in the Linden Cup. With the prior meeting being a fairly straight forward affair for the Conner outfit, the young South team were determined to give a better account of themselves.

South started sluggishly on the hot day seemingly struggling in the heat to achieve the desired tempo that has become such a feature of their play in the last few seasons. With the side having such an under par start to the match inevitably North Down took the lead with the game just five minutes old through a short corner that sailed high into the top right hand corner of Christopher Moulden’s net.

Things went from bad to worse for the away side as North Down doubled their lead five minutes later as an unmarked forward swept a right wing cross past a despairing South keeper, as he realised his chance of a good haul of fantasy points on the opening weekend of the competition were becoming ever slimmer.

This second goal North Down served as the wakeup call the Lisburn side needed, and as the half wore on got themselves more and more into the match. As the half drew to a close South Antrim could have counted themselves unfortunate not to have at least one goal on the board as a number of chances were created, with the left side of the pitch yielding much success particularly through the neat stick work of former NBA starlet John Semple.

If South began the first half slowly, the same couldn’t be said for the second. From the off the Lisburn team pressed North Down when they had the ball, forcing them into uncharacteristic errors all over the pitch gifting the away side possession on numerous occasions. There was no let up in the tempo of the game and it was becoming more and more obvious to all involved that it was only a matter of time before South Antrim got a goal back. Fifteen minutes into the second period of the game South got the goal their play richly deserved. Great play down the right from VW Phillips combining with Adam Glass led to a simple tap in for the sides North Coast based forward Mike Conn, who now has two goals in his debut season in Senior One.

The South Antrim goal gave the side a renewed lift and confidence surged through the team as they pressed for an equaliser. North Down became increasingly frustrated and it showed in their play as more and more rash challenges came about in the middle of the pitch, leading to them being down to ten men on two separate occasions. Special mention must go to Marshall brother, Adam, who managed to keep arguably North Down’s best player from the previous encounter quiet. He may though find himself in detention for his efforts as it was his Biology teacher that he marshalled for the 70 minutes with such aplomb.

As the match drew to a close South became more frantic but no less composed in their efforts to get back on level terms. With Tom Cream whipping many a good ball into the opposition circle with the forwards just unable to get the killer touch through some admirable last ditch defending from the tiring home defence.

Despite losing their 100% league record, many positives can be taken from a hard fought encounter with a team that will no doubt be in the upper echelons of Senior One come the business end of the season in early Spring 2014. Man of the Match went to the South Antrim goalkeeper Chris Moulden, despite being a virtual spectator for most of the second half, kept the young Lisburn side in the game early on in the first half when it looked as if North Down could run away with it with some saves of the highest quality.

Thank you to South’s Sponsor of the Month, Sports Dock.

Related topics: