Tough return to action for ladies fifths

North Down 5ths played Instonians seconds away last Saturday in a Junior League Five game and struggled to gather eleven players together, due to illness and holidays! Therefore, they were very grateful to Rebecca Brown and Ali Millar, home for the holidays, for helping out and to Krista Blanchflower for a rare starting appearance in goals.

Starting with only ten players, North Down were quickly under attack and a very bouncy pitch resulted in the ball flying over the defence’s sticks and, although initially saved, Instonians were quick to pounce on the re-bound to get the early opening goal.  Solid defending as North Down settled restricted the score to 1-0 at half time.

A number of positional changes at the start of the second half resulted in North Down attacking more.  The midfield of Emma Johnston and Rebecca Brown were able to find forwards Camy Chandler, Ali Millar and Jo Irwin at will and eventually North Down won a corner and so nearly scored from a difficult angle!  At the end of the day, the Instonians squad of 16 were just too much for North Down, despite everyone putting in a strong performance and tackling back, particularly centre back Cara McConnell and some amazing saves from Krista.

PMB Player of the Match: Camy Chandler.