Under 17s Match Report

Comber Rec V Upper Ardoyne Juniors

Comber took to the field on Saturday with the aim of extending their unbeaten run in the league against Upper Ardoyne at Ballysillan Leisure centre. From the moment the team arrived at the venue they and the management knew it would be tough due to the weather conditions of the day. Comber kicked off playing into a stiff breeze and quickly found that playing the long ball was not an option as it was literally coming straight back at them. This forced the players into playing short, neat passes and trying to work the ball from midfield, all of which is done during the weeks training. Into the wind Comber pressed and worked the ball well, creating goal chances and corners. It was from a corner that the first goal came. Irwin played the cornel in low and captain Hanna found himself in the box with time to turn and coolly slot the ball into the Ardoyne net. It was the least the comber boys deserved. The game restarted with neither team looking likely to score. Ardoynes threat came through their Number 10, whose strength and pace was giving the Comber defence a stern test. Indeed it was his pace that beat the offside trap and he slotted past the excellent Topping to make it 1-1 with 5 minutes remaining of the first half. Comber kicked off and instead of seeing the game until half time, pressed again with Irwin scoring right on half time to restore Combers lead.

Half time 2-1

The game restarted and instead of Comber playing their passing football, they started playing the long ball and gave the upper hand to Ardoyne. Ardoyne pressed and scored within 5 minutes of the second half, the No 10 muscling the comber defender off the ball to fire past a helpless Topping. There were very few chances in the rest of the match and the final result of 2-2 seemed to be a fair result.

Man of the match: Andrew Topping