Ladies thirds stay top!

Earlier this week North Down made their way to the top of the league table and wanted to keep it like this so the girls where determined to get a win against Grosvenor. North Down have always had to put a fight up against the Belfast team so they knew this wasn’t going to be easy. North Down started the game strong as well as the opposition and both teams had equal possession for the first 5 minutes of the fame. Grosvenor where every very quick off the mark and this put the home teams defence to the test. After much action in the defending circle Grovesnor got the first goal of the match after slipping the ball to the left hand side of the circle and under a North Down players legs and into the net. North a Down started to fight back and with great one two passes from the midfields and the forwards they started to apply pressure to the oppositions defence. North Down put up a good fight and equalised before half time with a goal from Kirsty McCrory who pushed the ball off her left foot and passed the goalkeeper.

At the start of the second half North knew that this half was going to be tough and that they had to up their game. For the first ten minutes of the second half North Down where under great pressure form the Grovesnor forwards and kept a tight ship in order to keep the score level. Play kept going from one circle to another both teams had their chances but the home team took the lead in the middle of the second half after the ball was reversed slapped across the circle from centre forward Ruth Steenson to centre mid Laura Murray who found the back of the goal. For the remaining time North Down kept up the tight marking and played with 5 defenders in order to keep the lead. The whole team fought until the final whistle and took the three points with a smile on their faces. This was the new Captain of the ladies 3s first victory and hopefully our lead on the league table still remains. Thanks to Kirsta and Judith for umpiring!

Player of the match- Anna Smith