Fruitless trip to Cookstown for thirds

The thirds travelled for the early start away to Cookstown fourths last Saturday.

A lively start by both teams created chances at both ends and North Down started to dominate but couldn’t break down a solid home defence.  A North Down short corner broke down and the home team countered to win a short of their own which was converted after an initial excellent save from Jamie McAuley who was in fine form.

The second half started with the home team now in the ascendency and they went two up after an error from a hit out.  North Down were still in the game however and  got it back to 2-2 through a great finish from Matthew Rea and a close range effort from Scott Moore.  Moore had another great chance to put the Comber men in the lead but his effort went narrowly wide and then there was another great chance wasted when Michael Orr and Sam Pyper had a 2 on 1 but Orr fluffed his shot.

As the thirds pressed for a winner, the home team broke and skillfully secured a number of short corners that were well converted in the last 15 minutes to make a final score of 5-2 that did not reflect the competitive nature of the game.

PMB Man of the Match:  Jamie McAuley