Match Report Lisburn Distillery 2 v Portstewart 2 21/09/19

Match report – Lisburn Distillery 2 vs 2 Portstewart

Bluefin Premier Intermediate League  – 21/09/19

This game started horribly for the Whites as Portstewart opened the score line in the 5^th minute as Ryan Doherty headed home from a corner whipped in by Mark Edgar.

Doherty then had another great chance in the 10^th minute as he found himself clear on the left wing as he struck his shot from just inside the Distillery box, however Whites ‘keeper  Jonah Nicholl padded it clear of danger.

Distillery’s first chance of the game came in the 14^th minute as Braniff took down Timmy Clarke’s throw and played the ball on the ground to Jonny McCaw, who was on the D, and was able to take a shot first time, but he mishit it and the shot went well wide of goal.

The second goal of the game came in the 22^nd minute for Portstewart scored by Zach Barr after a mistake at the back meant that the ball fell to him on the edge of the box and he was able to take his time to find the bottom left corner of the net.

After this slow start Distillery lifted their game and had a chance to equal the scores in the 27^th minute as a ball over the top played Harris through one on one with the Port goalkeeper. Harris had plenty of time but was unable to place the ball past the keeper and hit his shot straight at him, the ball deflected out to Young, who also had time, at the edge of the 18. However, he took a touch when he probably should have hit the shot first time, and it allowed the defenders to close down the shot and the chance went.

The Whites had lifted the tempo massively by this stage and had another chance in the 32^nd minute as a corner came in and was headed to the edge of the box were O’Hanlon was waiting to volley, unfortunately he didn’t quite connect with the volley right and it hit the ground before deflecting off a defender and then back to O’Hanlon, who tried a second time, this time his shot deflected towards the left post were Braniff was running in and was inches away from getting his toe on it to turn it in to the net.

Distillery then had another big chance to score in the 37^th minute as McCaw received the ball on the edge of the D and took a touch to the right to find space for the shot, but he was closed down so he passed it to Braniff on the right side of the box, who beat his man to take a shot, which was saved by the keeper who tipped the ball on to the feet of O’Hanlon who dragged his shot wide of the goal.

Surely a home goal was coming and indeed it did when Distillery were finally able to find the back of the net in the 40^th minute as a cross into the box was won in the air by Harris who headed down in to the ground. The defender tried to clear the headed shot off his line however, he was unable to and Harris stabbed home, to bring Distillery just one goal from equaling the scores.

The, literally on the stroke of half time the side were level when the referee awarded a penalty for Distillery as Young was taken down in the box. The penalty was duly converted by Braniff in to the bottom right corner to make the scores equal as the half came to a close.

Distillery had a chance to add to the score line and take the lead in the 56^th minute as corner swung in from the left, from Harris, was won in the air by Barry Moore who, unfortunately could only direct his header straight at the keeper, who was able to catch the effort.

Portstewart came close to scoring in the other end, ten minutes later as Ryan Doherty almost added to his own goal tally for the day as he controlled the ball on his chest at the edge of Distillery’s box and volleyed towards the goal, but it went over the bar.

Substitute Nick Beta then had a chance with his first touch in the 78^th minute of the game, as he was played straight through on goal and he drove it with power beating the visitng keeper all ends up only to see bounce back off the right post and away to safety.

Report by Johnny Millar

David Hunter’s full picture gallery from this game can be found on our Flickr page @ https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHfWVA3

LDFC Team v Portstewart – Nicholl Doyle Clarke McCaw Moore Getty O’Hanlon Harris Braniff Young Wright

Subs: Beta (for Harris) Byrne (for McCaw) McAlea (for Getty) Withers Nesbitt