Strabane Weekly News - Sports - Extra time cup progress for Strabane Athletic Reserves

Sports

Extra time cup progress for Strabane Athletic Reserves

Thursday, 9 February 2012

Tamnaherin Celtic 3. SAFC Reserves 4(AET).

WITH the first team's fixture against Ardstraw Reserves being postponed early on Saturday morning due to the opposition's first team playing a home fixture and no other suitable pitch being available, it was left to Strabane Athletic Reserves to battled it out against
Championship side Tamnaherin Celtic in their re-arranged Blue Ribbon Cup fixture.
On a very cold, wet and windy morning the young reserve team secured a fine victory in extra time by outplaying their Championship opponents, winning by 4-3.
Tamnaherin threatened from the first whistle with Devine doing well to tip a shot from Carlin over the bar early on.
The visitors responded immediately and opened the scoring in the fifth minute. K Patterson and Cooke combined well before releasing A Doherty on the left wing and with the teenager too quick for his marker, he took his time to cross for D Taylor to side-foot the ball into the net from 15 yards.
The reserves now dominated the play with a series of good chances falling to Henderson, D Taylor, Cooke, Brennan and A Doherty but when the they failed to make the most of their opportunities, they were punished by the hosts against the run of play.
On 20 minutes, a quick counter-attack by Celtic should not have caused any problems but when keeper Devine mistimed his clearance, a surprised Deeney had an easy task of slotting home the equalising goal into an empty net from the edge of the box.
Strabane lost their way after this set-back and the back four of S Doherty, Glenn, S Taylor and K Patterson needed to make some timely challenges to prevent Celtic scoring again before the break.
Despite the wind advantage Strabane were unable to regain any fluency to their play and the half ended disappointingly with the score-line deadlocked at one apiece.
Shortly after the restart, Ferguson and Dooher replaced S Doherty and K Patterson at full-back and to combat the conditions, the Strabane side reverted to play a five man midfield with Cooke providing the extra man in the middle, leaving A Patterson the lone striker.
The tactic helped Strabane compete better and with Brennan and Cooke seeing more possession, Celtic were made to defend deep in their own half for long periods.
However, midway through the second half, the Championship side took the lead when Carlin glanced the ball past Devine at the near post following good work by Deeney on the right.
In response to them going behind Strabane manager Paul Doherty introduced Mullan and Conroy for D Taylor and A Patterson with Gallagher replacing the injured S Taylor.
Within minutes of the changes Athletic netted an equaliser with Mullan shooting home from close range after Celtic failed to clear a corner-kick. In the final minutes the home keeper denied Doherty, Mullan and Cooke from netting a winner.
With extra-time required, the Strabane side reaped the benefits of their weekly training schedule as their superior fitness proved the difference. Ferguson and Henderson netted in the first period of extra-time to give Strabane a two goal cushion. Cooke almost scored a fifth and Mullan was inexplicably denied a penalty when pushed over in the box by the home keeper.
The Derry side did pull a goal back when the referee missed a blatant foul on Gallagher allowing Sweeney to shoot. Devine was unlucky to deflect the ball onto the bar but into the net.
The second period was all about the reserves keeping possession and they closed the game out with Brennan, Cooke and Conroy frustrating the hosts by holding onto the ball.
The club would like to thank Stephen Hunter of Orchard Glass for his continued support on and off the field
Strabane Athletic Reserves: Devine, S Doherty, S Taylor, Glenn (cpt), K Patterson, D Taylor, Cooke, Brennan, A Doherty, Henderson, A Patterson. Subs: Ferguson, Dooher, Conroy, Mullan, Gallagher.
Upcoming
The first team have a home tie against Mountjoy Utd Reserves this Saturday with kick-off at the usual time of 2.30pm at Melvin Sports Complex. The reserve team are away to Collon Celtic at Prehen Park, Derry, with kick-off at 10.30am. Training continues as usual on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
Mulhern Cup
The first team drew Strule Utd away in this year's Fermanagh and Western Mulhern Cup - a repeat of last year's fixture which saw Strule run out 1-0 winners. Fixture to take place on Saturday, March 3. Full draw can be seen on the club's website - www.strabaneafc.com.
SAFC Zumba
Zumba classes continue on Monday nights from 8.30pm with all monies raised being donated to the Joe McGarrigle Stay'in Alive Fund. Thanks for the support to date!