NAFL Division 1B
Newcastle 2 Bryansburn Rangers 0
Newcastle welcomed back joint manager Jonathan Scannell to a playing role on Saturday after missing almost eight weeks due to injury. Scannell’s return acted as a catalyst for the team as they played some lovely football to beat Bryansburn 2-0 and build upon last week’s 1-1 draw with promotion-chasing Greenisland.
Newcastle started strongly, with Scannell, Casement, and Watson dominating in the middle of the park. Visiting keeper David Finlay had to be on his toes to prevent an early Newcastle breakthrough. At the other end, fullback Rory Deegan and his skipper Philip Bonny were getting through a mountain of work to handle the dangerous duo of Rory Cubbon and Joshua Patterson.
Despite the best efforts of both sets of players, the teams were level at the interval, with the only surprise being the 0-0 scoreline. Newcastle were forced into a reshuffle following an injury to Sean Og Kelly, with Conor Hayes slotting in seamlessly into centre half and Conall King moving into Kelly’s midfield role. King immediately made his mark in his new midfield role with a couple of timely interceptions and some well-timed tackles.
As Newcastle began to take control, there was no surprise when they took the lead in the 54th minute. Scannell collected the ball, weaved his way past his marker, and released Leigh Moore to shoot past keeper Finlay and stun the visitors. The visitors were rocked by the goal and struggled to get a foothold in the game. Moore almost helped himself to a second goal, but his header flashed past the post. Watson and Scannell then combined for the latter to shoot just wide.
Bryansburn were clearly rocked, but at 1-0 they were far from out of the game. The visitors’ skipper, Andrew Cooling, had a half chance but was quickly closed down by Deegan in the Newcastle defence. With ten minutes to go, Newcastle scored their insurance goal as McCafferty found Watson with a pass, and the midfielder stroked the ball into the Bryansburn net to virtually secure the points.
To their credit, Bryansburn never stopped pressing the Newcastle defence, and they almost scored a deserved consolation goal in the closing minutes, with Keaveney clearing a ball from Craig off his goal line. A well-deserved win for the Newcastle team, with Rory Deegan named man of the match to cap a good performance.
Match Ball Sponsor: Stile Glass Newcastle.
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