Thirds lose out in thriller

The 3s entertained league leaders Queens 2s on Saturday and albeit North Down came away with zero points, entertaining it certainly was!
Queens arriving with 15 strong had their warm up done by 1215pm whilst North Down turned up in drips and drabs and smashed shots into an empty goal whilst waiting on the rest of the squad to get out of their beds.
Queens took an early lead after a mistake gave possession away. Queens doubled their lead through anotherNorth Down mistake and turn over of possession. Not to be too disheartened, the hosts fought back valiantly when a penalty stroke was awarded for a foot on the line. Much to the dismay of the returning Mockford, skipper Pyper stepped up for stroke duties and made no mistake. North Down soon made it all square when Pyper beat 2 Queens defenders) before setting up Nathan Grimshaw to finish well past the Queens keeper. Game on we all thought! Mmmmmm…. Or maybe not. With 15 mins to go in the half North Down had a melt down. Mistake after mistake let the visitors hit us on the break and 3 goals in rapid fire put the game to bed at halftime with the hosts trailing 5-2.
Well that’s what Queens thought. A stern hairdryer esk talking to, and an emotional Scott Moore who described the last 15 mins of hockey as the worst he has ever played in, fired up the troops and North Down with belief that they could still get something out of this game, dawned the Braveheart war paint and came out fighting! David Shepherd converted a drag flick short corner (awesome), Michael Orr picked out Moore who deflected well at the back post to make it 5-4 (equally as awesome) and North Down dominated. That said when chasing the game, Queens with their pace and great counter attacking hockey still posed a threat and were awarded a dubious short corner that was well converted. 6-4 and time was running out! North Down hit back immediately when Orr got his second assist with a crashed ball in front of the keeper that Pyper got a knick on to get his brace. 6-5 and with minutes on the clock North Downunfortunately ran out of time. Much the better side in the second half and deserved something from the game. Great effort second half!
Thanks to Tiger Osborne for umpiring