Once-fancied Rec's season ends in defeat

Wellington Rec 0

HISTORY tells us that it’s invariably hard for the same team to comfortably win back-to-back matches, especially if both games are fairly close together.

However, Wellington Rec seem to have bucked the trend, for after being beaten 5-2 at Brookvale Park during the week, they lost once more to Malachians 4-0 on Saturday at the so-called Stadium of Sand, just beside the Metropolitan Tabernacle off the Shore Road.

There may have been nothing at stake, but as Wellington boss Jim Hagan said: “We played some good football, so did they – it’s just that we couldn’t take our chances and we paid for some sloppy defending at the other end.”

The deadlock was broken after only eight minutes, when young Jamie Mills unluckily turned a Crawford cross into his own net. Until then, it was the Millbrookers who had looked the more likely, but leading marksman Paul Maguire fired one just over and then directed a free header straight at keeper Simon Steele.

Mals widened the margin on 22 minutes, thanks to a stirring right-foot strike from McCourt, their hat-trick hero in that midweek clash at Brookvale, where Wellington’s goals came from Maguire and a Gary Barkley penalty.

Wellington would have been right back in the mix had Steele not showed his mettle with superb saves to deprive Maguire and skipper Andy Bell.

Malachians effectively ended the contest just before the break when Bell headed in a Corr’s right-wing cross.

On the turnaround, Wellington thought they should have had a penalty, when Maguire went down whilst rounding the keeper, injuring his shoulder in the process, but referee Colin Rainey wasn’t convinced.

The match had now well lost its fizz , although Malachians did perk up enough to notch a fourth, with Crawford drilling in a McCourt cross.

Wellington thus finish their league campaign fourth-from-bottom in the Premier Division, a disappointing return given the high hopes of earlier in the season, when they were rightly considered to be possible championship contenders. Rec’s first defeat by Amateur League opposition came in the home derby with Islandmagee at the end of October – but since the turn of the year, injuries and the loss of midfielder Niall McAllister have taken their toll, with the Millbrookers winning only four of 22 league and cup matches played in 2010.

Wellington Rec; S Mills – Todd, S Cowie, J Mills (Shannon), McGarel – C Cowie, Gabbey, Barkley, Nelson (Curneen) – Bell, Maguire.