Rec Fail to End Mills Malaise

The accepted wisdom from the collective memory of Comber Rec supporters is that their team has not beaten Drumaness Mills at Meadowvale for approximately ten years. On Saturday Rec had the supreme opportunity to put an end to that dismal record. With the match tied at 2-2 at half time, and Rec enjoying the fierce wind in their favour for the second forty five minutes, it was assumed they would rain shots in from every angle and at every opportunity, but the only shot worthy of the name was the very last kick of the game, and once more Rec failed to register a win against their away bogey team.
Rec lined up missing flu victim Ross Hegan and the unavailable Adam Welsh, and faced into a strong, swirling downfield diagonal wind on a hard, bumpy pitch. They could not have wished for a better start. In their very first foray into home territory in the 4th minute they went ahead. Marty Robinson cleverly followed through on a high bouncing ball, controlled it on the left edge of the area, and put over a fine cross that Kevin Monson rifled into the net from 6 yards. It was a dream opening for Comber and raised hopes that perhaps they were finally going to break the jinx that has sent Rec fans home unhappy from this venue year after year.
Brian Burgess had an uncomfortable moment in the 7th minute when a huge wind-assisted clearance from the home half bounced high in the box and came off the crossbar before the keeper was able to master it.
Monson showed good skill at the other end, coming inside his marker and firing in a left foot shot that keeper Keenan touched wide for a corner, but in the 10th minute Rec were punished for a defensive mistake. A midfielder under pressure should have done the easy thing and hacked the ball out of play, but he chose to try to play a short pass, gave the ball to Murray, and his fine cross from the right into the goalmouth to the unmarked Casey was headed cleanly home to level the score. The question remains, what is wrong with a player under pressure simply playing safe and putting the ball into touch?
Drumaness resorted to their traditional offside tactic at this point and played it very successfully, but they were decidedly fortunate when Liam Mullan broke through and squared a lovely cross ball that was just a yard too high for Gordon Leckey’s head.
Midway though the half Craig McCracken worked well near the left byeline to cut back a pass to Robinson, but the shot was lofted well over the bar.
With half time approaching, and Rec doing well against the driving force of the wind, they came close to sneaking ahead. Mullan’s free kick was fisted weakly by the keeper, but the ball came off Peter Kelly’s legs and gave him no chance to control it.
Just after a Jim McCloskey piledriver had been blocked in the home area, Drumaness took the lead. Murray seemed to foul Neil Magowan in winning the ball, but play was allowed to continue and the striker let fly from 25 yards and buried the ball in the right corner of the net, finishing of the highest order.
Rec should have equalised in the very next minute. Robinson ghosted past his marker and had only Keenan to beat, but his weakly struck left foot shot came off the keeper’s foot and a great chance was gone.
Comber had only a couple of minutes to wait, however, before they drew level. Sublime McCloskey play on the left side saw him twist and turn his marker inside out, and when the ball came across the goal Leckey knocked it home from a couple of yards. It was a piece of pure individual brilliance by the Rec captain, and seemed to put Rec firmly in the driving seat for the second period with the wind in their advantage.
Burgess had to look lively immediately after the restart to parry a snapshot from the dangerous Casey, but most of the action was in the home half. Drumaness continued to catch Rec out with their offside ploy, which frustrated the visiting attack, and luck too was on the side of the home team when a mazy Kelly run gave McCracken a shot on target which Keenan fumbled but was able to reclaim just in time.
The avalanche of shots on target that Rec fans were expecting failed to materialise, but on the hour they should have regained the lead. A long Larmour ball bounced over the advanced home back line. Monson followed through and had the goal at his mercy, but poked his shot into the side netting. It was a bad miss, and the signal for a series of squandered chances that followed.
Midway through the second period a perfectly delivered Mullan corner from the right reached Kelly near the back post but he got under it and headed well over the top. Then another Mullan corner from the same side caused chaos in the home box and Kelly almost managed to force the ball home at the near post, but Mills somehow squeezed it away.
With most of the play in home territory Rec were open to a quick breakout attack, and Burgess did very well to block and claim a ball on the ground in a one on one situation. His long kick out found Leckey on the edge of the Mills area, but the scooped effort was straight into Keenan’s arms.
Rec brought on three subs, to no avail, as they desperately looked for a winning goal, but for all their dominance they failed to put anything on target. Robinson hooked a poor Mills clearance wide, and Kelly headed wide from another beautiful Mullan corner kick, but Mills threatened close to time with a deadly free kick that McCloskey sensibly headed over his own crossbar.
Rec’s best, and indeed only, clear shot on target arrived in the dying seconds. McCloskey wriggled out space for himself on the line of the area and crashed a peach of a shot against the crossbar, with Leckey unable to force the rebound over the line. If only Comber had produced that kind of shooting throughout the half, instead of the poor finishing that left keeper Keenan virtually untroubled, they would surely have broken the dreaded Drumaness hoodoo.
The Robert Adams Park, Crossgar, and Meadowvale, Drumaness, have been relentless deathtraps for Comber Rec teams in the past decade, with nobody so far claiming to recall a Comber victory at either venue over that period of time. The conviction is growing that the season in which Comber Rec secure victories at these two venues will be the season in which they will win silverware.