Labels

Monday, 9 September 2013

Superb Irish Cup Victory for ‘Burn

Bryansburn survived a one hundred and ten minute cliff-hanger before they emerged as 2-1 winners away to Roe Rovers in their 1st Round Irish Cup tie. Having made the 150 mile round trip to Limavady with only thirteen players after a late cry-off, injuries forced them to play the final fifty-five minutes with ten men and only the woodwork, goal-line clearances, dogged determination and some clinical finishing took them over the finishing line.
‘Burn started well, outplaying a hesitant Roe, and were unlucky when Morrison’s header from a Kehoe cross beat the keeper but rebounded off the crossbar after only four minutes. Parkes saw a shot saved, a C.Cooling free-kick went wide and they had to wait until the 18th minute for their deserved breakthrough. Coard slid a ball through to Morrison who calmly curled the ball past the keeper for a 1-0 lead. Rovers responded immediately and ‘Burn weathered an anxious period with a string of goalmouth scares and a point-blank save from Close with only a high and wide C.Cooling free-kick in response. Devlin pulled up and was replaced by Hannion but Roe continued to press and the home side saw an offside goal and then a free-kick for high feet deny them an equaliser before ‘Burn’s Mitchell almost doubled the lead with a header past the post in the final seconds of the half. Half-time 1-0 to ‘Burn.
More bad news came at the re-start with Parkes joining the injury list to be replaced by Bryansburn’s last sub Higginson. An open exchange saw a couple of dangerous Roe corners, a blocked C.Cooling effort and a Coard shot over the bar but disaster appeared to have struck when MacLeod limped off on the hour leaving ‘Burn with ten men.
Roe Rovers used their “extra man” to good effect and within minutes they hit the post and saw A.Cooling (twice) and Kehoe clear shots off the line. It was “all-hands-to-the-pumps” in the nine-man Bryansburn defence with Gray, A.Cooling, Coard, and Clarke all making critical tackles as the clock ticked slowly towards the ninety minute mark. All Bryansburn’s hard work appeared to be undone when Rovers finally levelled at 1-1 in the 88th minute and only the post prevented an undeserved defeat seconds before the final whistle and the start of extra-time.
Clearly ‘Burn were facing an uphill struggle but somehow they managed to summon the energy to smother Rover’s all-out offensive and in the 5th minute of extra time spirits were lifted when Kehoe swung in a forty yard cross and lone striker Morrison rose to head home his 6th goal of the season for a 2-1 lead. Predictably it was a long, long fifteen minutes to the end of the match and ‘Burn were again grateful for two last-ditch tackles from Kehoe and tireless work from the full squad in seeing them through to a remarkable victory.
In an outstanding thirteen man team performance Kehoe shone with A.Cooling & Morrison deserving special mention.    

After an impressive pre-season the 2nd XI finally started their league campaign with a home fixture against Colinvalley ll. However, despite fielding their strongest line-up for some time, ‘Burn were edged out 2-0 in a very tight game.
Undoubtedly, Bryansburn had the better of the first half in a game of surprisingly high standard with free flowing football from both sides. Unfortunately for Bryansburn, despite having the edge an own goal ten minutes from the break saw Colinvalley take the lead. A high free kick eluded the hands of young goalkeeper Hayes and struck a Bryansburn defender to give the visitors’ an undeserved lead.
Enforced changes in the ‘Burn line-up in the second half limited their earlier supremacy and the match levelled out before a powerful last minute drive put Colinvalley two up. There was much celebration in the visitors’ camp as they had been clinging on to the three points in the face of a lot of pressure.
Despite the defeat, Bryansburn can be well pleased with a sound performance against a side which will most certainly end up well placed in the league come May. Also, by and large, the quality of football would not have been out of place in an Intermediate match. In the absence of an official referee, local man Ian Robinson kept the match well under control with an excellent display.

The 3rd XI were beaten 5-1 at a strong Newtown Forest side in a game that was much closer than the score-line would suggest.
Bryansburn got off to a disastrous start when the ball was given away resulting in the home side taking the lead after just 44 seconds. Fortunately an experienced ‘Burn side did not let the early set-back affect them and played their way into the game with only the Forest keeper preventing an equaliser with saves from Cardwell and Dempster. At the other end Bryansburn had a scare when Steventon tipped the ball against the underside of the bar and Cole was on hand to clear it. Steventon then made a tremendous point blank save and the visitors’ survived a series of corners to stay in the game at 1-0. At the other end Bryansburn caused problems from a number of Scott and Murphy corners but just before the break Newtown Forest scored again to lead 2-0.
Bryansburn dominated the early exchanges in the second half and deservedly reduced the deficit when Cardwell was brought down outside the box and Cole rifled the free-kick round the wall and into the bottom corner. At 2-1 down Bryansburn were well in the game and fought hard in search of an equaliser. However, all the hard work was thrown away when two sloppy goals were conceded in the space of five minutes to gift Newtown Forest the points. Firstly a corner fluked its way directly in from a corner and then from a Bryansburn corner the ball was hoofed up the pitch to find an attacker unmarked and homing in on Steventon.
Suddenly 4-1 down, ‘Burn brought on Morrison and Wallace for Beattie and Bracewell and moved to a 3-5-2 formation with Scott given a free role, in an attempt to salvage something from the game. Dempster fired a twenty-yard effort inches over, several Scott crosses caused problems and Cardwell hit the bar but it was the home side who broke a couple of minutes from time to complete the scoring.
Poor performance from Bryansburn even if the score did rather flatter the home side.

The 4ths took on Ravenhill YM ll at home in their opening league game and despite taking the lead, finally went down 5-1.
Missing two key defensive players and several regulars, a makeshift ‘Burn side were expected to struggle against a highly fancied Ravenhill team. Despite this it was Bryansburn who opened the scoring after only six minutes. Rees had an effort saved by the keeper but his quick reactions saw him first to react to hit the rebound into the unguarded net. The visitors’ front line and pacey midfielders soon began to control the game and two goals before the half time break saw Ravenhill edge in front and the pendulum swing.
An early third goal in the second half all but ended the game as a contest.  Two further, late goals saw a heavy league defeat inflicted on the home side, a statistic that was neither welcomed nor accepted by the management team. An improved performance is expected next week


Tonight (Thur) is the final training session at Ballywooley. Next week training reverts to Bangor Sportsplex 8 to 9.30pm on Tuesday and 7 to 8pm on Thursday for all four teams.

On Saturday the 1st XI have an Intermediate League game (opponents unknown at the time of going to press) while the 2nd XI make the long trip to Erne Rovers for a 1.30pm kick-off in the 1st Round of the Coca Cola Junior Cup. The 3rd XI are away to Ballywalter Rec lll in the 1st Round of the Billy Allen Shield and the 4th XI travel to Corrymeela ll.

Players are reminded that annual subs are now due and must be paid in full by the end of September. Players who have just joined the club have one month from the date of signing.

Alan Dempster has already taken over twenty names for the Club Christmas Dinner at the Stormont Hotel on Saturday 21st December. Cost is £45 for a five course meal followed by live music from four acts along with 250 revellers at the “Party Nite”. The bus will be leaving Ballywooley at 7pm and returning to Bangor at 1.30am from the Stormont. All those going have until the end of September to confirm their place with a £25 non-returnable deposit with the balance due by the end of November.


Alan Dempster also has 18 names for the Club Trip to Newcastle. Current price is £100 for return flights to Newcastle and three nights in a Travelodge Hotel. Places will be booked as payment up front is received. Please note that the current price will rise as more people book on.

Finally tickets are now on sale for Flash Harry, a fundraiser we are holding in conjunction with NOW and Jointz. Venue is the Stormont Hotel on Saturday 12th October and tickets (£20) are currently on sale from Alan Dempster. All members are asked to come along a support their Club at this event.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

 

Raise Funds

easyfundraising.org.uk

Web Search

easysearch.org.uk

Sample Text