Ladies thirds make it game over in the first quarter

As the Priorians senior team travelled to Comber for a Senior League fixture, North Down thirds made the trip in the opposite direction to play Priorians seconds for their second game after the Christmas break. Given both teams positions in the league, and after a scoreless draw back in October, it was all to play for.

North Down arrived after the long journey but within the first few minutes Judith Orr found the backboard from a very tight angle. Priorians’ forward line were extremely nimble and had several attempts to equalise early on but sweeper Ali Millar broke down the play. North Downs’ second goal came from a single handed Laura Murray run eventually passing the ball across the circle to find Judith Orr poaching on the post again. Shortly after this two more goals followed from Kirsty McCrory and Leah Drysdale to make it 4-0 and all within the first quarter.

Priorians caught the North Down defence asleep in the second quarter and managed to score what was to be their one and only goal of the game. Throughout the second and third quarter Priorians pressurised the visiting team’s defence but Cara Murray had a great game keeping up with the pace of their nippy forwards. Goalkeeper Nikki Ferris had a fantastic game safely defending several one on ones and a number of penalty corners and kept a clean sheet for the remaining minutes of the game. Just on the final whistle, Kirsty McCrory passed a great ball onto Leah Drysdale who had rounded the keeper to notch her second goal of the game to leave the visitors homeward bound with a 5-1 win.

Burch Autos Player of the Match was Cara Murray