Mens fourths late surge is good enough

After a dodgy start to their league cup campaign North Down fourths finally came good with a solid performance away to South Antrim fifths last Saturday.

The slower pace of this game suited the 12 North Down men who were playing their third fixture in a week! With neither fitness nor youth in large supply in white shirts, the 15 fresh-looking South Antrim faces were a daunting prospect before the whistle; but as the game unfolded, an early goal from Ben Bond showed the importance of experience and cool heads.

South Antrim were forced to chase the ball from early on as the North Down defence moved it around comfortably at the back waiting for gaps to open which they duly did. A soft equaliser was short-lived before Simon Wilcock bagged two carbon copy far post tap in goals in quick succession making it 3-1.

With the exception of the odd counter attack thwarted by Jonny Campbell, North Down controlled the remainder of the game with young Luke Millar opening his senior scoring account after a goalmouth scramble!

In the dying minutes, a short corner was too much for Jonny Campbell to resist and he promptly dispatched it into the bottom left hand corner for a final scoreline of 5-1!

This was a strong team effort all round, with no weak spots. Young James Webber is starting to look very comfortable and confident at left back and there were valuable contributions in midfield from Rick Kennedy, Bryn Walker and Guy McGonigle.  Matthew Snodden was also solid in defence.

Burch Autos Man of the Match award was shared jointly by Johnny Burch and Jonny Campbell.