Newcastle League Division 2
Newcastle Town Forest 2 Castlewellan Town Thirds 1
Match report by Roger Imrie
IT was something of a late, late show from Newcastle as two goals in the last eight minutes of the game saw the team recover from a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1.
Forest boss Alan Imrie used all his tactical nous at the half time interval to turn the game in his side’s favour, with the players, at the final whistle, calling him Unai Emery, after his Aston Villa namesake.
The game started with a hungry Castlewellan side on the attack and putting the home team under early pressure.
While Digney, Connolly and Steele were all prominent in the early stages and putting the home team’s fullbacks McLaughlin and Weir under pressure, Forest keeper Jack McLaughlin was rarely troubled, aside from a free kick that he saved at the base of his right-hand post.
As Newcastle settled, they began to create some half chances, with Shea Baker being beaten to a through ball by Town keeper Morgan Croskery and Philip Bonny shooting wide.
Town centre halves Paul McVeigh and Darragh Ward were also called upon to prevent Newcastle dangerman Bonny getting a sight of Croskery’s goals.
Castlewellan continued to look lively in and around the Newcastle penalty area and both Forest centre halves, Josh Stanley and Sean Devlin had to making blocking challenges to prevent the Town taking the lead.
With half time fast approaching, and the game scoreless, the Town were awarded a penalty.
Callum McKibbin stepped up to score with a penalty kick that very few keepers would have gotten anywhere close to.
In the current issue, read about how the action played out in the second half, and Shay Baker’s telling contribution.