Walls stars but thirds go down at Campbellians

North Down thirds lost away to Campbellians seconds on Saturday going down 3-0.

The visitors, complete with stand in goalkeeper Andy Walls, made a decent start having plenty of possession without creating many chances but it was the home side who took the lead, scoring with a fast counter attack. After the goal a similar pattern was established with North Down having most of the play but the final ball was lacking on most occasions. Scott Moore and Andrew Shannon both drew saves from ex North Down keeper Peter Gray in the Campbellians goal, the second chance coming from great work from Kai Jenkins but halftime arrived with the home side still one up.

After the break the thirds set in search of the equaliser but continually struggled to keep the ball and it was the men in olive green who started the better and indeed took advantage when a short corner yielded a second goal. North Down almost pulled one back forcing a number of saves in one move. In the end however, the combination of North Down throwing men forward and the home side rotating their large squad well resulted in the tired thirds conceding the clinching third goal, chipped home at the third attempt after two fine saves from captain Walls.

The auxiliary goalkeeper was called into action once more making an incredible quadruple save, one with his foot, two with his facemask and one final one sprawling on the ground. This rounded off a very credible performance in goals which gave his team the chance to win but poor basics and passing throughout the squad meant that the thirds left empty handed.