U12s rally back to stop the rot

St Mary’s U12s 3

AFTER a run of three consecutive league defeats since bad weather forced the Mid Ulster league to be split in half in January Dromore finally stopped the rot with a hard fought draw against a St Mary’s team placed four places higher up the table at the start of play.

As usual however Dromore’s recent inability to get going at the start of a match cost them dear and they found themselves 1-0 down after only five minutes.

Fifteen minutes later it was 2-0 to St Mary’s – a significant number of Dromore players seemingly unable or unwilling to put their foot behind a loose ball in their own penalty area to clear presenting the opposition striker with the chance to double the lead!

Five minutes later and it appeared that all was lost as Dromore conceded a third, the ball bouncing over the head of the Dromore keeper and into the back of the net.

Whilst most teams would crumble when faced with such a deficit, Dromore strangely appear to work in reverse and started to get going only when it appeared that it was too late.

Five minutes before the half-time break Daris Benallal fired a shot just over the St Mary’s cross bar to signal the start of the fight-back. A few minutes later however he went one better when, with Dion Dawson and William Donnelly both having put pressure on a St Mary’s defender to win the ball, William crossed for Daris to place his shot tight inside the St Mary’s post.

Rallied by this goal Dromore started the second half at a much faster pace and 10 minutes into the second half pulled another goal back when a Jack Canning through ball was knocked on by William Donnelly for Scott Thompson to fire high into the net.

It was now all Dromore and William Donnelly could have got the equaliser when – having run the whole length of the St Mary’s half of the pitch – he rolled the ball agonisingly wide of the post. Dromore continued to have much the better of the second half but despite continuous pressure it didn’t appear that they would get the equaliser.

However with 90 seconds remaining the referee ordered a bounce ball following an injury to one of the St Mary’s players. Scott Thompson won the ensuing contest for Dromore and knocked the ball over the top of the St Mary’s defence for William Donnelly to run through and smash in the equaliser.

Team: Hanna, Benallal, McConnell, Canning, Clements, Fullerton, Thompson, Dawson, Donnelly, Percy, Brush, Houston.