Lisnagarvey hold nerve in penalty shoot-out

LISNAGARVEY HIGH SCHOOL 3 NEWTOWNABEY HIGH 3

Lisnagarvey won 4-2 on penalties

LISNAGARVEY High School Under-15 football team overcame all the odds last week to lift the Northern Ireland Small Schools Cup.

The team went into the match as underdogs to the holders Newtownabbey who are always a well drilled team and was fielding a Northern Ireland International.

The game was played in very blustery conditions and in the first half Lisnagarvey were playing against the wind. The team settled into the match quickly and showed no signs of nerves in fact they looked the better team in the early exchanges. However playing against the wind proved tricky and after 20 minutes Newtownabbey took the lead with a speculative shot from outside the 18 yard area which dipped over goalkeeper Ivan McAuley.

Lisnagarvey created plenty of their own chances with Chris Ferguson and Johnny Frazer both going close.

When the whistle for the second half it didn’t take long for Lisnagarvey to get back on to level terms. Chris Ferguson took a lovely ball from Jack Smith and drove into the area. As he took it past the defender he was fouled resulting in the first of many penalties. Captain Jack Smith stepped up to slot home giving the Newtownabbey goalkeeper no chance.

Now on the front foot Lisnagarvey started to play lovely football and the opposition found themselves stuck in their own half. The next goal was to arrive soon after the equaliser and again it was Jack Smith from10 yards out on the end of it to smash it past the goalkeeper into the corner of the net.

This score would change again after 10 minutes when after lovely work down the left hand side from Chris Ferguson, linking up with Jordan Davidson who then fed the ball to Dean Brown-Spence. At this stage Dean was running rings around his marker and again after cutting inside him the drove the ball low and hard just inside the 18 yard area resulting in goal number three for Lisnagarvey.

With ten minutes to go the team were pushing for more goals, however they were to be on the end of two breakaway goals. The quick Newtownabbey centre forward who had been kept quiet all game was starting to cause the defence problems resulting in the opposition scoring two goals to make the full time result 3-3. Ten minutes of extra time proved fruitless for both teams however Newtownabbey broke through on goal but Dylan Matter, who had been solid all day, put in an unbelievable tackle to thwart the attack.

The game then came down to penalties and it was Lisnagarvey to step up to the spot to take the first penalty. Jack Smith was first up and made no mistake. Newtownabbey then took their turn for their first and hit the post. Chris Ferguson then stepped up and like Jack Smith put his spot kick away. Newtownabbey then hit back and scored their second. It was the turn of Dean Brown-Spence, who like the previous two, put his penalty away with confidence. Newtownabbey again replied to make it 3-2 . Jordan Davidson took the long walk to the penalty spot and gave the Newtownabbey goalkeeper no chance with a well placed shot. This put Lisnagarvey into a 4-2 lead with Newtownabbey now needing to score their next penalty. The Newtownabbey player stepped up and never looking confident and hit the bar. The Lisnagarvey players were soon mobbed by the Lisnagarvey spectators as they celebrated their success.

This was a hard fought match for Lisnagarvey but with the work rate, commitment and attitude they were the deserved winners.

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