Fourth quarter fight back too late for ladies

North Down ladies entertained Senior One league leaders Mossley at Comber Leisure Centre last Saturday hoping to improve on their 3-1 defeat back in November. As expected, Mossley started strongly and in the first 5 minutes they pushed hard into the North Down circle but with nothing to show for it due to solid defending. The first quarter became evenly balanced and ended 0-0.

North Down had some excellent opportunities in the second quarter due to super skill from centre midfielder Rachel Andrews linking up well with Kirsty Boobyer and the forwards Jenna Pliagua, Lois Wilson and Emily Johnston. They had one good chance to go ahead but were unlucky not to score at the back post and it was still all square at half time.

In the third quarter Mossley dominated possession leading to a short corner which led to a well hit straight strike smacking the back board making it 1-0 to the visitors. Defenders Rachael Murphy, Angelique Toombs, Ali Campbell and Caitlyn Adair worked well under the pressure making some excellent tackles but they were unable to stop Mossley adding a second after a further 7 minutes. good work from Megan Murray to North Down winning a penalty corner but this was well cleared by the keeper. They then added a third goal just before the end of the third quarter to make it 3-0.

The last quarter was North Down’s as they fought back with Rachel Andrews scoring an amazing individual goal right into the corner out of the reach of the keeper. They kept the pressure on with Sophie Hoey winning a number of penalty corners which were successfully defended by the visitors who held out to the end with their two goal advantage.

Burch Autos Player of the Match was Rachael Murphy.