27 Apr 2008 - U10's Win Derby Friendly With Ease

 

Straight away the Ports made there intensions clear, that was go out and look for early goals. Niall Massey and Ryan Smyth had shots blocked by the defenders and Portadown Boys keeper. The pressure told when James Gould won the ball in midfield and found Scott Cowan free on the right, he skipped past a couple of challenges to whip in a cross to the back post and Massey blasted his shot into the net. After that Portadown Boys tried to push forward but Adam Hill was alert to stop them in their tracks. Hill laid a pass to Ross Wilson and he rounded a midfielder and found Cowan who hit a defence splitting pass to Gould free in the box and the lead was doubled. Again Portadown Boys came at the Ports but Hill, Wilson and Mark Johnson stood firm at the back and left Chris Hall with nothing to do but try and keep himself warm. A few more chances fell the way of Smyth, Massey and Cain Murtagh but all narrowly missed the target. Near the end of the half Murtagh made up for his earlier miss by making the score line at half time 3 - 0 to the Ports.

 

Geoff Smyth then made some changes at half time with Ethan Rusk returning to the team Gareth Oliver and Josh Coleman replacing Hill, Neil Allen and Massey and it didn't take long before the changes paid of when Rusk won a challenge on the left side of defence and found Coleman and his cross caused mayhem in the defence with Johnny Farrell shooting but his shot was blocked with Murtagh scrambling the ball over the line for 4 - 0. With nothing to lose Portadown Boys went for it but found Rusk and Wilson in top form and as if they played along side each other all season. Cowan was rewarded with a goal for his hard work when he raced onto a through ball from Murtagh and somehow the ball squirmed out of the keepers hand and into the net. Late on in the second half Hall was called into action with the only two shots he had to attend to in the match, he palmed one out for a corner and he blocked the other with his knee. After a long clearance from Hall, Smyth picked up the loose ball and ran in on goal and slammed the ball into the net to make the final score a well deserved 6 - 0 win.

 

Team: Chris Hall, Neil Allen, Adam Hill, Ross Wilson, Mark Johnson, James Gould, Scott Cowan, Cain Murtagh, Johnny Farrell, Niall Massey, Ryan Smyth.  Subs: Ethan Rusk, Josh Coleman, Gareth Oliver, Adam Gilpin.

 

Report by Trevor Hall