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Newry 2’s 3-3 Banbridge 2’s
It was a warm sunny Saturday in Newry for the hotly contested derby of the two rival clubs. Both teams had squads of 14 players Banbridge with a mainly school boy team against an experienced Newry side. Banbridge began the game as expected with sharp passing and controlled the tempo and quickly opened the scoring through a short corner which went under the Newry keeper’s foot. Ban’s second came from another short corner which was drag flicked into the bottom corner. Ban then scored their 3rd just before half time with a goal line scramble that was turned home in mid air past 2 Newry defenders and the keeper. After the restart Newry regrouped and were a lot sharper, now starting to win more the 50/50 balls to try and get themselves back into the game. Newrys 1st was scored from a short corner when David Hogg dribbled past the first Banbridge runner and smashed the ball low and deflected into the goal from the Banbridge goal keeper unable to do anything about it. Newry then started to dominate play with some smart hockey and where rewarded was a individual piece of inspiration from David Hogg again who dribbled past 2 Banbridge defenders and placed a ball in the top right of the goal with a wonder strike leaving the Banbridge keeper in no mans land. Newry’s 3rd goal came 2 minutes before the final whistle when Nigel McGuffin brought down an aerial ball inside the Ban 25 yard line and slipped in Adam Foster unmarked who then rounded the ban goal keeper and slotted the ball home for the equaliser for his fist ever 2nd X1 goal.
Team: Warren Adams, Ben Scott, Andrew Henning, John Lawson, Andrew Baird, Scot Blakely, Adam Foster, Darren Liggett, Ivan Tombs, Simon McCafferty, Sam Henry, Nigel McGuffin, Daryl Barlow and David Hogg.
PSNI 1's 0-3 Newry 1's
Newry travelled to Stormount to take on PSNI in their third league fixture of the season. A game against newly promoted PSNI was always going to be a physical affair and this is how the game played out. Newry tried to play as they have done so far this season with smooth passing hockey, however this was difficult with a lot of heavy challenges and persistent fowling which was knocking Newry out of their stride. Even with this Newry deservedly went one up with a smart half volley finish from Kyle McCombe when the ball broke in the centre of the circle. Newry soon made it too when David England slapped a low hard shot into the bottom corner after a great solo run from McCombe who turned provider this time. Newry were good value for their two nil lead at half time.
Newry came out in the second half again knowing they were going to be on the receiving end of more hefty challenges with PSNI not disappointing. John Taylor continued his good early season goal scoring form when he scored though a short corner to give Newry a 3 goal lead. Newry had plenty of opportunities to extend their lead but a mixture of poor finishing and great goalkeeping kept the Newry men at bay. Newry's toughest test of the season comes in their next game when they travel to South Antrim in a re arranged league fixture.
Team: R. Hanlon, N. McKnight, N. Liggett, J. Greer, C. Henning, C. McKnight, J. Taylor, D. England, K. McCombe, A. Gilmer, R. Irwin, D. Andrews, N. Davenport
Result:
Instonian 4's 3-2 Newry 3's
