Ladies fourths lose unbeaten record

An undefeated North Down Ladies 4th XI made the journey to Magherafelt to fulfill their Junior 5 fixture against Rainey 2nd XI. A 1pm pass back ruled a number of the regular 4th XI out of the game so skipper Jo Irwin introduced some new players to the team.

Before the game started the 12 player squad was down to 11 as forward Kirsty McCrory suffered whiplash from her school match. Kerry McCord and Rachel Quigley made their debuts in true North Down versatile fashion, both girls playing up front.

From the start North Down were under pressure from a well drilled 14 player squad and the defence had to be on high alert. The first Rainey goal came after a run of penalty corners.
More good play led to another 3 goals from the Magherafelt side. Just before half time, centre mid Judith Orr suffered a nasty injury to her ankle which left her sidelined for the rest of the game.

A change in formation was required for the 10 player North Down team during the second half. In true North Down spirit the team faced the pressure well with Maxine Taylor organising her defence of Anna Dunlop, Karen Jackson and Anna Rogers who did well to hold up play. During the 2nd half a great ball from Jo Irwin found Beverly Brittain who bravely took on a dodgy tackle from Rainey winning her team a short corner. This led to a few short corners with Irwin coming close to scoring on two occasions. Rainey scored two more goals in the second half resulting in a final score of 6-0 to the home team. Thanks to goal keeper Linda Marshall for helping keep the score to six and fair play to all the team with some playing out of position and injuries not helping.
Joint Players of the Match: Maxine Taylor and Karen Jackson.

Report by Karen Jackson