Ladies thirds finally get a league win

After last Saturday’s cup win, the ladies thirds were determined to get their first win in the league. The opposition at Comber leisure Centre on Saturday was Greenisland seconds.  Right from the start North Down were strong and spent the majority of the first half in the attacking circle. Greenisland were put under a lot of pressure but had a number of breakaway opportunities which were easily read by defenders Emma Johnston, Keri Portinga and Rebecca Nield.  They then had a couple of chances to take the lead but these were cleared by goalkeeper Ashleigh Gorman and North Down then had to face and successfully defend a number of penalty corners.  Good interplay from Keri Portinga, Olivia Brown, Jenna Hoey and Beth Murray led to a number of North Down penalty corners in a row but none resulted in any goals.

After a very positive team talk at half time, North Down knew that they needed to score and the work rate from everyone was solid.  Olivia Brown had several good runs down the wing passing the ball into the circle but the Greenisland defence were solid.  After yet again more penalty corners North Down eventually found the back of the net and went into the lead with a goal from Julie Fisher.  Greenisland responded looking for the equaliser but brilliant defending from Rachel Murray, Karen Jackson and Sacha Bell made it was hard for the Greenisland attackers to get into the circle. North Down kept their one nil lead right until the end for their first league game of the season.

Player of the match – Keri Portinga