AC Guest 0 post 7-Mar-2006 11:15 AM

Cathy Duncan opens the scoring against Larne with this stunner Duncan opens 2006 account North Down Ladies Football Club continued the build up to the 2006 ladies football season with an uncompromising fixture against Larne Ladies last weekend - the highlight of the game being an absolutely stunning strike from Bangor’s Cathy Duncan which opened the scoring. Larne Ladies from the Greater Belfast Division, on paper, would start this game as strong favourites, with a full competitive season behind them, and having recently signed a number of top payers in preparation for the 2006 Northern Ireland ladies football season, which gets underway on Monday, April 24th. The Bangor based side, in contrast, whose squad included no fewer than seven inexperienced players, came into this one expecting to take a bit of a hammering, although took on the game as an opportunity to give their young side some much needed match practice. With only a number of the squad still unavailable, the club put out a fairly strong side: Peggy Bradley; Angie Young, Leanne McGarry, Kim Dockery, Joanne Williamson; Patricia Webb, Cathy Duncan, Jackie Price, Lisa Mahood; Deidre Savage, Tanya Black. Sara Brunton, Carolyn Scott, Julie Graham, Christina McNamara and Susan Cull. Despite the bright sunshine, the arctic weather which had brought snow and bitterly cold winds to all parts of the Province, made this a really tough test for the North Down based outfit, against superior opposition which included the formidable Jill Small. Kim Dockery clears the danger in the season opener With the game getting underway however, it was North Down who started the better of the two sides, and this put Larne back on the back foot. The first chance of the day fell to striker Deirdre Savage with her first time shot being pushed out for an early corner kick. This pattern continued for the first ten minutes and the Bangor based side could have easily been three up with some good positive direct play with Black, Mahood and Savage all getting through a slow starting stunned Larne defence. After just 15 minutes the form book was ripped up when Bangor’s Cathy Duncan unleashed an stoppable 25 yard drive from midfield, which flew into the roof of the net giving the Larne goalkeeper no chance and registered the club’s first competitive goal in 2006 - and to be fair it was just what the side deserved having started the stronger of the two sides. A nice through ball from Carolyn Scott split the Larne back four and once again Savage effort was pushed away to safety. Action from Sundays game. The goal obviously rattled Larne and the momentum seemed to quickly switch and towards the end of the half, the visitors found themselves in the lead, after a quick double put the Bangor based side 2-1 down at the interval. It must be said that the Larne goals were nothing outstanding and could arguably be blamed on some fundamental defensive mistakes, which come the start of the season, will have to be wiped out in order to protect the clubs status in their respective division. Wholesale changes at half time didn’t really unsettled North Down, who to their credit didn’t buckle under some early pressure, with the defensive unit of Young, Williamson, Price and Webb all showing good composure at the back. While it will be a few months before the club can start to put out their best eleven, no one on this performance ruled themselves out of a chance of a start. Again the main threat of an equaliser came was from the right side Christina McNamara combined with Savage who was denied yet again after a speculative long range shot from wide was tipped away. With only minutes left the best chance of an deserved equaliser came late on with Cathy Duncan bursting through from midfield, beating the offside trap and facing down one on one on the advancing goalkeeper - but her low drive just shaded the wrong side of the post and the game finished with a Larne win. Although beaten by just a single goal, the Bangor side were certainly not disappointed with the outcome as there were certainly a lot of positive things to take from a game: Deidre Savage showing real potential in what proves a natural starting position; Patricia Webb both in midfield and defence showed alot of determination and commitment; the young Sara Brunton although still learning the basics gave a good account of herself, while Joannah Williamson at left back didn’t put a foot wrong and made a number of key contributions. Also making her first start Jackie Price was flawless and showed that she has alot to offer in terms of versatility; but all players came through the match well, as will all benefit from this experience of playing at a high tempo, when the league kicks off in just seven weeks time. TRAINING CONTINUES This Sunday, it back to training before taking on another NIWFA fixture the following weekend. The training continues every Sunday at the Valentines Playing fields on Sunday afternoons from 2 - 4 p.m. New players are always welcome, registration for the 2006 season costs just £10 and all subscriptions should be in by the end of this month. Midweek training will get underway on Tuesday nights throughout April as the club puts the final touches to their preparation for the kick off later that month. RUMOURS AND ROUND UP The membership is currently twenty four, and the membership will close at twenty five. All Registrations Fees (£10) should have been paid by now. Registered players will be given a squad number for the 2006 season - this will be allocated by the Manager. Fundraising will get underway shortly with the fundraising committee already putting their first venture out for distribution this month - details will follow. The Club will find out which division they will competing in very shortly. All players will be given a full list of fixtures. The Club will be playing all home games on Tuesday evenings, kick off 7.15 p.m. Finally all this information will be accessable here on the Clubs Website. Last Edited Guest on 9-Mar-2006 10:45 AM