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Glentoran Colts
returned to League action on Saturday 3rd November 2007 with
an away game at Brownstown Park against Portadown III.
The Colts made 4
changes from the previous Saturdays starting eleven including some
positional changes (as some players had been selected for the Seconds
game) and had 3 players from the U16’s in their squad.
A difficult game was
envisaged against a strong Portadown side that included a number of
players who played regularly for their Reserves and also some who had
figured in their first team squad.
The Glens started the
game brightly and were playing some good football and putting Portadown
under pressure. The Glens took the lead after only 7 minutes when from a
Atkinson free kick the ball arrived at Holmes 12 yards out who rifled
the ball in with his right foot as it bounced up. The Glens increased
the lead within 2 minutes when another free kick from Atkinson was
flicked on by Selfridge to Steele whose shot was well saved by the
keeper but Holmes was on hand to tap in the rebound to make it 2-0 to
Glentoran. The Glens should have increased their lead 10 minutes later
when Selfridge broke clear on the right hand side of the box and pulled
the ball back to Holmes in front of goal but he put the ball over the
bar.
The Glens were
dominating play and Holmes and Buckley were combining well down the left
side and linking well with the hard running front pair of Selfridge and
Steele. Whilst in the middle of the park Atkinson and Hunter were
winning a hard physical battle with the Portadown midfield. When
Portadown did break through they were being well dealt with by the whole
Glentoran defence with McBurney in the centre and young U16 right back
Beattie playing particularly well.
On 20 minutes more
good work down the left saw the ball fed through to Selfridge in the
middle of the park and his direct run saw him break through the middle
of the Portadown defence and into the box where he was brought down as
he was about to shoot. The referee pointed to the penalty spot and
Atkinson stepped up to make it 3-0.
Portadown having been
restricted to some long range shots should have pulled one back after
about 30 minutes when a free kick was flicked on and the Portadown
player somehow put the ball over the empty net from about 6 yards
out.
The rest of the half
turned into a tight physical battle between the two teams with a number
of free kicks conceded by both sides and Atkinson and Fitzsimmons booked
for the Glens along with a couple of Portadown players.
Half Time:
Glentoran Colts 3
Portadown III 0
Glentoran had a
flying start to the second half when they went 4-0 up with only 30
seconds on the clock.
From the kick off the
ball was played back to right back Beattie who quickly played the ball
into Steele 10 yards inside the Portadown half in the middle of the
pitch. He in turn played a through ball between two defenders for
Selfridge to run on to and slip the ball between the legs of the
oncoming keeper.
Glentoran with their
confidence up continued the good football and long range efforts from
Holmes and McDonnell went narrowly over.
On 50 minutes
Glentoran replaced Steele with U16 player Gerard Southam (younger
brother of Sean) and 10 minutes later Craig replaced McDonnell.
The best goal of the
game came on 65 minutes. Hunter picked the ball up on the centre spot
and made a driving 20 yard run between two Portadown midfielders down
the middle of the pitch before passing the ball to Selfridge on the edge
of the box who in turn slipped the ball past the defender into the box
for Hunter to continue his run and finish well past the diving keeper to
make it 5-0 to Glentoran.
Quinn then came on to
replace the impressive Beattie at right back. Glentoran had further good
efforts by Hunter, Craig and Southam among others but where unable to
increase their lead.
In the last 20
minutes Glentoran seemed to become a bit complacent and allowed
Portadown more into the game. As a result of this Portadown scored with
10 minutes to go when the ball was played over the Glens defence near
the half way line down Portadowns left and the attacker cut into the
middle and was able to get a shot off between the two Glentoran central
defenders from about 18 yards out which Moore was unable to stop.
Portadown then got a second in the 86 minute when slack marking allowed
the attacker to break through and slot home to make it 5-2 which is how
it stayed until the final whistle.
Full Time:
Glentoran Colts 5
Portadown III 2
Scorers:
Holmes (2), Selfridge, Atkinson, Hunter
Team: D Moore, G
Beattie (D Quinn 70mins), S Fitzsimmons, W McBurney, K Buckley,
S McDonnell (S Craig 60mins), N Atkinson, M Hunter, C Holmes,
M Selfridge, P Steele (G Southam 50mins)
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