Match Report
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U-18 v 7th Portadown (Battalion Cup, FINAL)U-18 v 7th Portadown
16/06/2007
(Portadown Battalion Cup, Final)
7th Portadown and Knocknamuckley met, for the third time this season, in the final of the Portadown Battalion Cup. Their previous encounters finished in a Portadown win in the first round of the Northern Ireland Cup and a Knocknamuckley victory in the final of the Lurgan BBOB 7-a-side.
Portadown got off to the perfect start, when within 5 minutes they took the lead. The Knocknamuckley defence claimed for an offside decision and stopped playing. The player was deemed onside as the Muckley defenders stood still and the big Portadown centre forward was able to turn, under no pressure, and score with a well placed left foot shot from just inside the area.
Knocknamuckley nearly drew level shortly after. A free kick was awarded right on the edgeof the box for a hand ball against a Methodist defender when he appeared to control the ball with his chest. Drew Gardiner struck the ball well, low past the wall and was unlucky to see his shot rebound of the base of the right hand post. The ball bounced back into a playable position but the Knocknamuckley forwards were slower to react and Portadown got the ball clear.
Portadown increased their lead, when from a free kick the ball was played into the area. There was a mixup in the Knocknamuckley defence as they failed to clear the ball. Portadown forwards were not so hesitant as one of them sored his sides second goal of the game.
Andrew Irwin was then lucky to stay on the pitch. After a good challenge from Irwin on a Portadown midfielder, the Methodist player caught “Bun” in the follow through, by this stage the ball had gone and Andrew, while on the ground swung a kick at the player catching him on the boot. The letter of the law says that the referee should have shown the Muckley player red, but wisely used his discretion, as the incident had only been a mild retaliation and let him off with a yellow card.
Knocknamuckley now had a good passage of play, playing some attractive football going forward. Muckley nearly pulled a goal back with a spectacular effort. A long ball forward was chested by Gregg Harrison into the path of Simon Grey, who was down the left side, over 25 yards from goal. Grey met the ball first time, and without allowing it to bounce hit it on the volley with his right foot, but his effort cleared the cross bar.
Muckley's next chance also came form a volleyed effort. A clearance this time fell to Harrison who met the ball on the volley on the edge of the box, he managed to keep his shot down, along the wet ground, but it was straight at the keeper.
The Portadown third was very similar to their second, only this time from a corner. Again the Muckley defence failed to get the ball clear and in the mix-up a Methodist player kept his head to increase his sides lead to three goals.
There was still 10 minutes or so of the first half left and it was important that Muckley tightened up at the back. They managed to do this quite effectively but wern't looking dangerous going forward. Colin Irwin and John Henderson were linking well upfront, and both running some good lines. Their movement and understanding nearly had them in on a few occasions during the half. Unfortunately for the two strikers a lack of support on occasions, and the final ball being played just too far in-front prevented either getting a clear chance at goal.
Half time 7th Portadown 3 v 0 1st Knocknamuckley
Knocknamuckley began the second half well. They were looking solid at the back, none more so than Andy Calvert who was having another excellent match, and the side had a lot of possession going forward looking for an early goal to get them back into the match.
Muckley nearly pulled a goal back early on. Harrison received the ball over on the right hand side, seeing the Portadown goalkeeper off his line he attempted a lob. The ball sailed over the goalie but narrowly missed the far post.
As time ticked on Knocknamuckley were less likely to get themselves back into contention, but always had a chance, however despite most of the possession they were finding it hard to get any clear-cut chances.
Gardiner had picked up the ball in defence and played a clever one-two which allowed him to charge up the pitch into space and receive the ball around 25 yards from goal. With nothing else on the Knocknamuckley captain had a speculative effort. The shot started well wide of the target but the curl on the ball was somehow enough to swing it back towards goal, and in the end sailed just past the joint of the goal.
Knocknamuckley's next opportunity was probably their best chance of the match so far. Some good build up play down the left allowed Graham Jardine into the box. Jardine hit the ball first time, and looked to have beat the Methodist goalkeeper, down to his left hand side with a well struck shot. The Methodist goalie displayed excellent reaction to get down quickly to save with his fingertips.
After trying so hard to get back into the game in one swift move Portadown effectively sealed the game. Methodist attacked down the right in a quick move. The Portadown winger knocked over a lovely cross which was met by a Methodist central midfielder who had angled his run from left to right, and glanced the ball delicately towards the back post, giving the Knocknamuckley goalkeeper no chance, for a lovely goal.
This goal was quickly followed by another, due to the momentum of Portadown after the previous goal, coupled with a lack of concentration from Knocknamuckley. A corner from the Muckley right bobbled about in and around the box and wasn't dealt with, eventually falling for a Portadown player to power home from 5 yards out.
This put Portadown 5-0 up, and was really an unfair reflection on the play. Fortunately Knocknamuckley were still able to lift their game again and play with some pride. An attacking spell from Knocknamuckley led to a corner. This was the first of five consecutive corners, as Muckley piled on the pressure, and Portadown were unable to clear the danger. The fifth of these corners was from the left. Henderson curled in another brilliant delivery, this time to the front post. Jardine met the ball, around the edge of the six yard box and powered his header over the head of the Methodist goalkeeper who was unable to deal with the power. This was the very least Muckley deserved, in terms of both standard of play and effort.
Moments later Knocknamuckley managed to win another corner, this time from the right. Henderson again took the corner, and knocked it to the backpost, which found Kris Duprey unmarked. Duprey managed to guide his header in from around 10 yards for his first goal for the under-18s.
The scoring was rounded off with 5 minutes to go, when a Methodist midfielder was played in behind the defence to slot past the keeper.
This gave 7th Portadown their first trophy of the year, having previously finished as runner-up in both the Lurgan BBOB 7-a-side and the Northern Ireland Cup, and avoided the distinction of losing in the final of all three competitions in the BB season. The victory was well deserved by an accomplished 11-a-side team, who took their chances well, and limited Knocknamuckley to mainly half chances.
Despite the defeat, this was an extremely successful season by Knocknamuckley as well. Having won the very difficult 7-a-side competition, and reached the final of the Battalion Cup. Only one of Knocknamuckley's players will have left the ranks by next season, captain Drew Gardiner, despite this being a big loss, it will keep the majority of the side together, with the aim of defending their 7-a-side crown and improving in the 11-a-side form of the game, in both the Battalion and Northern Ireland Cups.
Full Time 7th Portadown 6 v 2 1st Knocknamuckley
Team: Mathers, A.Calvert, Lamont, Gardiner, Duprey, Jardine, Harrison, A.Irwin, C.Irwin, Henderson, Grey. Substitutes: Bell (for C.Irwin 67), Cowan (for A.Irwin 45), McKeown (not used).
Goals: Jardine, Duprey.
Booked: A.Irwin
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