League 1C: Newington Rangers 3 Bryansburn 1

1sts lost 3-1 to a strong Newington Rangers side in their 3^rd visit to Co-Antrim in 6 days. ‘Burn had plenty of opportunities but on a lumpy, overgrown pitch it was the home side that were the more clinical in their finishing.

            Newington started brightly with a couple of dangerous attacks, a corner and a free kick within the first ten minutes but the ‘Burn back four of Parkes, Gray, A. Cooling and A. McMullan gave great cover to goalkeeper Beattie in his debut outing with the firsts. With the opposition pressing hard and chasing a string of long balls space up-field and chances began to fall to Bryansburn. Morrison benefited when a bad bounce evaded the full back and the keeper but his lob from distance cleared the bar, a Coard shot followed the same route minutes later and he was equally unlucky when heading a Mallon cross inches wide of the post. Three chances in 7 minutes counted for nothing however when a simple Newington cross beat the defence and their forward hit home for 1-0 with 25 minutes played. Undeterred ‘Burn continued to apply pressure with a Tolson break and shot foiled only by another random bounce as he pulled the trigger, a powerful Mallon shot the wrong side of the woodwork and two near misses from Morrison. Balls from R. McMullan and C. Cooling continued to open up opportunities but again Coard, Morrison and Gray couldn’t get the right contact to open the scoring. Rookie ‘keeper Beattie pulled off a great save as Newington rallied but seconds before the break Newington struck with a classy turn and shot into the bottom corner to make it 2-0 at halftime.

            Three minutes into the second half ‘Burn were caught cold and it was 3-0 as a Newington free-kick looped across the defence to curl in at the back post. Again ‘Burn shook off some obviously tired legs to respond and Mallon was unlucky to see a blistering shot clear the cross-bar after 49 minutes while Tolson and Morrison continued to stretch the home defence but couldn’t find a telling shooting opportunity. Stannex replaced C. Cooling and J. McMullan (for Gray) made a welcome return after a long absence and Bryansburn finally got some reward for their efforts. Coard’s free kick was fired goal-wards by a Parkes header and the full-back was quick to respond to the rebound and head in for 1-3 on the hour mark.  Once again Beattie pulled off a vital save to keep ‘Burn in the game but a header from Mallon and two efforts from Stannex failed to close the two-goal gap. Manager Mellon replaced Mallon for the final ten minutes and, while ‘Burn looked the more likely to score, Newington twice came close to extending their lead. Final score 3-1.

Good showing from Bryansburn but, in the end, sheer fatigue and bad luck probably played a big role in the result. Congratulations to Newington on a performance totally out-of-keeping with their current lowly league position.