Match Report

Match : 2nd XI v Portadown 2nds
Date : 2004-03-20
Venue : A
Score : 2-3
Scorers : Nicholl, Baird

By Stephen Swann

A trip to the Junior 5 league leaders (runaway, to boot) was always going to be tricky...

Skipper Swann, flabbier than his last outing 4 weeks previous, showed some devastating lack of pace and match awareness when he "latched" onto a through ball and was faced 1-on-1 against the Portadown keeper inside the first 5 minutes.

It would've come as no surprise that it was Portadown that took the lead despite the golden opportunity presented to "lardy boy".

Portadown scored two more in the first half - both from penalty corners. East Antrim never managed to force a penalty corner during the 70 minutes!

Stephen Nicholl did raise some hope, however. His "shot" just inside the circle was deflected past the goalkeeper by a Portadown defender.

The half-time team talk obviously woke up the Glengormley men. A lack-lustre first half was followed by sheer mediocrity. The hit and hope plan, however, worked... A quick free hit by the Skipper was met at the back post by Eddie "Deady From Six Inches" Baird to bring East Antrim right back into the game. Unfortunately, that was the highlight of a dull and uninteresting second half.

Many thanks to Gemma for travelling with the team and umpiring.

G Cooke
P Leitch
D Menaul
A Murphy
A Bell
B Watters
S Swann (captain)
A Blair
Michael McKenna
Mark McKenna
S Nicholl
E Baird

Eddie Baird - You Can't Teach Talent Like This