5th December 2009

 

Following the disappointment in the Junior Shield last time out, Kircubbin returned to league duties with a home match against Crumlin Rec. Having already beaten their opponents 5-0 earlier in the season in the reverse fixture, Kircubbin were confident of gaining maximum points. Straight from the kick off Kircubbin were in the ascendancy, forcing Crumlin on to the back foot. The opening goal of the game came as early as the second minute when Turlough Bell's shot was saved by the keeper only for Mick O'Prey to power home the rebound from close range. A poor start to the game for Crumlin was made worse in the fifteenth minute when a player was sent off following a minor scuffle. Kircubbin however failed to make their numerical advantage pay dividends, and it was the ten men of Crumlin who now took control and bought the game to Kircubbin. The make shift defensive pairing of Matthew Torney and Ciaran Taylor marshalled the Crumlin attack well in the opening period and managed to restrict the visitors to long range shots. With time running out in the opening half, Kircubbin's keeper Eugene McGrattan almost gifted Crumlin an equaliser as he totally miss-judged the flight of the ball. Fortunately the Crumlin striker couldn't direct his header on target and the ball trickled past the post. Ciaran Taylor cleared the ball off the line just before the break to keep Kircubbin ahead at half time.

The manager tried to push the positive points to the team during the break, but the game was totally turned around in the opening minute of the second half when Crumlin almost walked the ball into the Kircubbin goal. The visitors were unlucky not to take the lead when a goal bound shot rebounded off the post and fell kindly to Matthew Torney who was able to clear the danger. With twenty minutes to go in the game, Stephen Clarke decided to change the formation in an attempt to win all three points. The two full backs, Jamie Fowler and Chris Wright made way for Cahal McGrattan and Adam Arthurs as the team switched to a 3-4-3 format. This change seemed to work well as both Adam and Cahal made positive impact on the game. Crumlin didn't react well to the change in the Kircubbin line up and this gave the home team the advantage for the final spell in the game. In a final throw of the dice, David Arthurs was brought on for the final twelve minutes for the hard working Mick O'Prey. This proved to be an inspirational choice from the manager as David was the catalyst that changed the final result for Kircubbin. With five minutes to go, David took the ball round three Crumlin players and laid the ball off to Matthew Clarke. He calmly passed the ball into the net low to the keepers right hand side. With time almost up, Adam out paced the Crumlin defence on the left wing and crossed the ball deep to the back post. David was on hand to head the ball into the open net and secure all three points for the delighted manager. Final score in an exciting match 3-1 victory to Kircubbin. The three points now lift Kircubbin back into second place in the league.

This week the lads are back to cup action away to Ford FC. Team to leave at 11.45 for a 1.30pm kick off.