Cookstown sizzled!

North Down thirds hosted bottom of the league side Cookstown fourths at Comber Leisure Centre on Saturday hoping to get back to winning ways.

From the start, North Down dominated possession but were guilty of holding onto the ball too much and slowing the free flowing hockey plan. After 10 minutes they started to move the ball much better with ‘first pass right pass’ mentality and soon were awarded a short corner. Not to plan, the push out went astray but Steven Dalzell enticed in the runners and slipped square to Sam Pyper who steered home into the corner.

Into the second quarter and the gameplan was reinforced further as the hosts sensed blood. Great work from Tom Pinkerton with a reverse pass put Pyper through in the right side of the area and as the Cookstown keeper advanced, Pyper squared for Pinkerton to keep up his run and slot into the empty net. One minute later Jack Bond repeated the play with the same link up with Pyper and the same end result with Bond scoring to make it 3-0 at half time.

As the second half progressed Cookstown were limited with their chances with Colin Mockford and Jonny Campbell holding strong and constantly getting in front of their men.  Scott Graham and Andy Walls made things difficult for the Tyrone men in midfield with their excellent work rate on and off the ball. Some free flowing hockey created chance after chance and a series of short corners got the Comber men four up when Pyper beat the first runner and flicked low with a composed finish. Greg Bell soon got in on the action when a deflected ball looped into the air and the winger struck home on the upright reverse with a fine strike. It didn’t end there and Dalzell mischievously sneaked in at the back post and finished off the scoring with a close range finish for a convincing 6-0 win. 

Burch Autos Man of the Match was Sam Pyper