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Match Report · Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Posts: 128

U-18 v Lurgan BBOB Youth
25/05/2009
(Friendly)

Knocknamuckley played Lurgan BBOB Youth in their final preparation for the Northern Ireland Cup Final next week, fresh from winning the Lurgan BBOB Sevens. Knocknamuckley were missing three players for this game due to work commitments and injuries, and were forced to reshuffle the pack, with Graham Cowan coming into midfield, and Matthew Kimmons and Andrew Poole taking a place on the bench.

The drama started even before the game begun, when Knocknamuckley coach, Keith Dawson dislocated his thumb stopping a ball, and had to pop the thumb back into the joint. Despite the distorted look of the thumb and the obvious pain of the injury, rumours still circulated that Mad Dog had purposely sustained the injury in order to get out of refereeing duties.

When the game got underway Lurgan BBOB got off to the better start, and were controlling most of the possession. Knocknamuckley defended well, and were very well organised, not allowing BBOB to use their possession in order to penetrate the defence. This pattern continued throughout the half, with the Knocknamuckley defence, brilliantly marshalled by Simon Grey. The partnership of Grey and Andrew Calvert again appeared wonderfully solid as they kept the BBOB attack at bay. The midfield of Cowan, John Henderson and Stephen Russell were also defending resolutely, putting pressure on the ball and picking up runners well, while Stuart Campbell was closing down possession when Lurgan BBOB had the ball in deeper areas, and running great lines in order to relieve the pressure on the Muckley defence when the ball was cleared up to him.

Despite the relentless pressure of the Lurgan BBOB attack, they were being limited to long distance shots, all of which Seth Mathers, who was captaining the side, was equal too. One chance which did fall Lurgan BBOB’s way looked to have been confidently finished, only to be fantastically saved by Mathers.

Knocknamuckley despite having less of the possession were still looking good when they got on the ball, and nearly opened the scoring, when a move involving Henderson and Cowan resulted in Russell having a shot from outside the box which the keeper could only touch over the bar. Knocknamuckley did have their chances going forward, as they were able to expose the gaps in Lurgan BBOB’s rearguard as Campbell, Russell, Henderson and Cowan combined well going forward, but were just unable to find the final, killer ball each time.

As half time approached, one lapse in concentration from the Muckley defence allowed Lurgan BBOB the chance that they had been trying to carve out all half, and they made no mistake with a confident finish.

Andrew Poole was introduced just before half time and immediately looked comfortable on the ball, and strong in defence.

Half Time 1st Knocknamuckley 0 v 1 Lurgan BBOB

Matthew Kimmons came on at half time and immediately made a nuisance of himself upfront, and was involved in numerous attacks, as Knocknamuckley tried to attack more at the start of the half. Muckley continued to defend resolutely, but gaps were beginning to open up as Muckley tried to press forward more, but some wayward Lurgan BBOB finishing prevented them from adding to their score.

A reshuffle designed to give Muckley more attacking impetus saw Grey move into midfield. This nearly had the desired effect immediately, as a great forward run took him from deep within his own half to within opposition territory. A pass played into Campbell inside the box was returned to Grey, when he may have been better shooting, and Grey was just unable to control the pass.

The concentration required to defend for so much of the game began to show, as the players visibly began to titre mentally, as the amount of talking decreased, and the destabilising effect of fiddling with the defence allowed Lurgan BBOB to fashion a chance, which this time they took. Three more quick goals followed, as the Knocknamuckley energy drained with the blow of the second goal.

The game finished 5-0 to Lurgan BBOB in Knocknamuckley’s first 7-a-side defeat of the season. This game will hopefully have served as a good warm-up defensively for Knocknamuckley, and will hopefully not have dented the confidence of the squad going into the NI Cup final, when they will have the advantage of welcoming back three players, and must also remember that they were playing a very able team who play week-in, week-out at a competitive level in the Mid-Ulster League.

Full Time 1st Knocknamuckley 0 v 5 Lurgan BBOB

Team: Mathers; Grey, Calvert; Cowan, Henderson, Russell; Campbell: Poole, Kimmons.