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Strabane Athletic Res score 10 and romp to victory

Thursday, 23 February 2012

Strabane Athletic Res 10 Collegians 1

WITH Strabane Athletic's first team's game on Saturday postponed, it was left to their reserve team to entertain the club's followers at the weekend. On a very cold morning they certainly were entertaining, running out victors in a one-sided 10 -1 win, albeit against a very weak Collegians team, who are rooted to the bottom of the North West Saturday Morning League One table.
The game kicked off with Athletic in total control, but despite dominating possession, chances were few and far between in the opening 15 minutes.
That was all to change, though, and in the next 15 minutes Athletic created chance after chance and only for some poor finishing, the game could have been over as a contest. Numerous players were guilty of missing glorious chances and despite their efforts there was only only goal scored after Cooke latched onto a through ball by Aodhan Doherty and miskicked his shot past the Collegians netminder on 25 minutes.
Surprisingly, Collegians were handed a life-line on 33 minutes when an opportune ball over the top by their central defender was miscontrolled by centre back, Stephen Taylor, allowing the visitors' speedy forward through on goal.
McGonigle, in goals, raced from his line and gave away a penalty in the process, which was dispatched with authority to level proceedings.
This was as good as it got for Collegians as the remainder of the half belonged to Athletic as they hit three unanswered goals through Henderson, another from Cooke and an own goal, to lead 4-1 at the interval.
Some great work in the midfield involving Brian Patterson, Aaron Brennan, David Taylor and Aodhan Doherty help set up all three additional goals.
The second half resumed with Oliver Gallagher replacing Stephen Taylor and Athletic resumed where they left off in the first half.
Within two minutes, a run and shot from Aaron Brennan somehow went under the Collegians goal-keeper's dive to make it five. This was followed by a piece of great individual skill by Henderson.
Cooke slipped the ball through to the young forward on the edge of the box before he went on a mazy dribble, beating four defenders inside the box. However, with only the keeper to beat, he placed his shot wide of the upright.
He did score five minutes later, though, when again put through by Cooke to make it 6-1 - the young striker's ninth goal in five games.
In the absence of reserve team manager Paul Doherty, his assistant, Terry Conroy, then made four substitutions, bringing on Graham for Brennan, Mullen for Henderson, D Doherty for A Doherty and K Patterson for Conroy. Mullen was quickly into stride and scored with literally his first touch after a great run and cut back by Brian Patterson.
His second soon followed when more good work from Patterson put Cooke through and despite only having the keeper to beat for his hat-trick he gave Mullen the simplest of tasks to tap the ball into an empty net from four yards out.
Mullen completed his 15 minute hat-trick in the 80th minute when stroking the ball home from a David Taylor cross to make it 9-1. Athletic were relentless in attack and created numerous more chances in the final 10 minutes. The final goal came with the last kick of the game when Patterson again played Cooke in and the striker made no mistake dispatching the ball past the bewildered Collegians goal-keeper to score his hat-trick and his team's 10th on the day. The club would like to thank BFast for sponsoring the match ball for this match.
Strabane Athletic Reserves: McGonigle, Ferguson, S Taylor, Glenn (Cpt), Conroy, D Taylor, Brennan, B Patterson, A Doherty, Henderson, Cooke. Subs: Gallagher, Mullen, K Patterson, Graham, D Doherty.
Zumba
The club would like to thank everyone for attending their Zumba classes over the last eight weeks. "We hope you enjoyed the great exercise routine. Thanks to the instructors also. The club helped raise around £250 for the Joe McGarrigle Stayin' Alive Fund in the process," said a spokesperson.
Upcoming fixtures
The first team are at home to Spamount Swifts this Saturday with kick-off at the usual time of 2.30pm. The reserve team are away to Dupont in the Blue Ribbon Cup with kick-off at 10.30am. Both management teams will be in contact regarding squad selections and meeting times. Training continues as usual at Holy Cross College's 3G pitch on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

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