Match Report

The game started with Newry on top for the opening twenty minutes, as the Whites were unable to find any rhythm, or creativity in their play, and found themselves second to the ball every time. It was in the twenty fifth minute as the ball came in from a corner on the right, not one home defender attacked the cross, and when the ball was headed back across goal, the Newry player standing completely unmarked at the back post, had the simplest of tasks from 3 yards out to poke the ball into the Whites goal. This goal seemed to waken the Whites out of their lethargy and they began to play with more adventure and spirit, and in the 35th minute after missing a few chances they drew level, when a corner from the right was headed home at the back post by Bo Willis. The score remained level at the break.

The second half was controlled by the Whites, and they duly went ahead, when McQuillan broke down the left, his pass was moved on by Willis, and Aaron Johnston coolly found the corner off the net to give the Whites a deserved lead. But an inability to take further chances meant that they had only a slender one goal lead, and ten minutes from the end a casual defence allowed a forward to break through and draw level. Disaster followed disaster, when, with only two minutes remaining, a speculative shot from twelve yards slid under the keepers body and into the net, at the near post.

Managers Comments

If someone asked me after the game, how did we lose this game, I would have been unable to answer them, but looking at it a few hours later the answer is we gifted it to the opposition. We failed to kill the game off when we had the chances, and then poor defending allowed them the only two chances they had in the second half and they took them, to leave us with nothing to show for a game which should have been out of sight. We must learn to have the killer instinct, to put games out the other teams reach, otherwise a good start to the season will drift away from us and once again we will fighting to finish up mid table. We can and must do better than this.

David Taylor