Thrilling Win For Bryansburn

Only Bryansburn 2^nd XI were left with a game on Saturday when they travelled to Whiterock Leisure Centre to face St Teresas YC ll on a 3G surface. The 4ths fixture at home to Vision Athletic ll was postponed on Friday morning and this was followed suit by the 3rd XI’s visit to Bangor Rangers lll at 10.15am on Saturday. The 1^st XI had already left in a bus for their Coca Cola Intermediate Cup 4^th round tie at Newcastle when word filtered through the game had also fell victim to the weather. However, the squad decided to travel anyway and enjoyed a great day out. Our thanks go to both Newcastle FC and the Anchor bar for their hospitality. The game has been rescheduled for this Saturday. Meantime the 2nds were rewarded for playing in terrible conditions when they returned with a thrilling 4-3 win.

The match was in doubt due to the referee not being happy with the markings as they were almost non-existent on a pitch designed for Gaelic matches. After much consultation with the ‘Burn Management Team and staff of the Leisure Centre, the match finally started in arctic conditions. The visitors’ had to weather the storm on and off the pitch as the home side were shooting from any position helped with the very strong wind at their backs. The defence of Dickson, Brown, Collins and Patterson held strong well marshalled by seventeen year-old keeper Douglas.

It was pretty much backs to the wall for the opening twenty minutes and when the ball did arrive with forwards Hanna and Crawley they were soon surrounded by at least four defenders. Scott and Ballantine worked the flanks as good as they could but were met by several strong challenges. On 32 minutes ‘Burn were awarded a free-kick on the right flank but when Scott whipped the ball in, Crawley just failed to get his head on it. The home side then broke and wind assisted, aided by a slight hesitation from the Bryansburn defence, a midfielder  let fly from 35 yards over the over the head of Douglas and into the net. The home side then threw everything at ‘Burn to try and capitalise on the conditions but several shots went high and wide. In the 42^nd minute ‘Burn missed a great chance to draw level when a cross from Scott was headed by Dickinson however it was straight at the home keeper. Halftime 1-0.
During the break some words of wisdom were spoken by the Management Team and self belief was installed into the players. With the wind and rain stopped for a short period, Bryansburn managed to play some ground ball and on 49 minutes Crawley was upended in the box after great work by Parkes. Scott stepped up and calmly slotted the ball home for the equaliser from a temporarily made penalty spot. Before the restart all three teenage substitutes – Greer, McMullan and Ferris – were introduced giving Bryansburn four seventeen year-olds on the pitch. McMullan and Greer were given positions on the flanks and were not daunted by the task or by the size and build of the opposition defence.

In the 54^th minute a throw in from Ferris was headed on by Greer and McMullan calmly slotted home from six yards to score his first senior goal. Notably all three subs played a hand in the goal. Three minutes later Ferris was clattered outside the box and he was helped off the field to leave ‘Burn playing with ten men. Then, from a throw in, St Teresas restored parity after a slight mix-up at the back. Brown stayed down injured and after several minutes of treatment was carried off the field. The nine men dug in but with twenty minutes remaining, both injured players returned to the fray to assist in the quest for three points.

Ballantine adopted a lone striker role and Parkes, who had slotted in as cover in defence, worked the flank brilliantly before calmly laying off to Dickinson who fed an inch perfect pass to Ballantine who beat several rash challenges before firing home from twelve yards. The goal was celebrated by the entire team and rightly so. McMullan went close on 78 minutes when his shot was excellently saved by the home keeper. Then, nine minutes from time, ‘Burn broke up an attack and again Ballantine picked the ball up thirty yards from goal and ran at the home side before calmly placing the ball under the keeper to make it 4-2.

Almost directly from the restart the home side scored again to leave a frantic eight minutes plus injury time to negotiate. Douglas made two great saves to keep the visitors’ ahead and the additional seven minutes of injury time were seen out by ‘Burn to leave the final score of 4-3 to the visitors’.

A fantastic team performance with special credit to both Brown and Ferris for returning to the play with nasty foot injuries. “Man of the Match” was Ballantine for two excellent goals and assured performance throughout.

Training continues at Bangor Sportsplex tonight (Thur) from 7pm to 8pm and on Tuesday from 8pm to 9.30pm. Players are reminded that attendance in training and payment of any outstanding debts will be taken into consideration when teams are selected for Saturday.  

This Saturday the 1^st XI make another attempt to play their 4^th round Coca Cola Intermediate Cup tie away to Newcastle, while in league action the 2^nd XI are home to Suffolk FC ll. In the Down Area league the 3^rd XI face Newtown Forest at Bloomfield and the 4^th XI travel to Comber Star ll in the Tommy Murphy Memorial Shield.

For those interested in the Annual Club Trip, the current price has now risen to £140 for return flights to Newcastle and three nights in a Travelodge Hotel leaving on Friday 30^th May returning Monday 2^nd June. Please contact Alan Dempster if you wish to join the travelling party.

Finally two social events have been organised in the Clubhouse over the next month. On 22^nd February there will be a Poker Night and on 8^th March a Pool Tournament. Those interested in either of these competitions should give their name to Johnny Ferris.