Northend U-13s hold league leaders in Shield

The Northend U11 team were very unlucky when they lost narrowly to previous unbeaten league leaders Comber Rec 3-2 when a share of the points would have been a fair score.

The U14 team returned to earth with a bump when they were beaten 5-1 by Rosario in a SBYL League match, while the U10 and U12 teams had their matches cancelled late on Friday due to waterlogged pitches.

UNDER-11

Northend 2, Comber Rec 3: Northend, minus a couple of regulars, knew they would be in for a tough time against a Comber side unbeaten in all competitions and it was the Co Down boys who took the lead with their first attack.

Northend equalised midway through the half when Sam Bennett crossed and in ghosted Zack Herbison to slam the ball past the Comber keeper, for his 30th of the season.

Northend took the lead in the second half when Conor Graham played the ball through for Herbison to chase. As he slid in with the keeper the ball broke to Conor McHugh who drilled it into the open net.

Comber fought back and equalised when their midfielder hit an unstoppable drive from 20 yards giving keeper James Morgan no chance and the visitors scored their winner a few minutes later with a carbon copy effort.

MOM: Jamie Crawford and Zack Herbison

Northend: James Morgan, Robbie Dennison, Ryan McKenna, Jamie Crawford, Oliver Boyle, Philip Maybin, Conor Graham, Conor McHugh, David Kilgore, Zack Herbison, Sam Bennett, Eamon Elliott, Ben Sempey.

UNDER-13

Carrick Rangers 2 Northend 2: Against the run of play, Carrick scored after a free-kick struck the crossbar and rebounded back into play.

Northend came out a very determined team in the second half, looking for the equaliser but disaster struck as the east Antrim side broke out of defence and scored with a low drive.

In the best move of the match, Caolan Tierney fed the ball out of defence to Jamie Speirs in the Northend midfield. With an inch perfect throughball, Jamie Brown found himself with time to turn an lob the Carrick keeper from the edge of the penalty area to make the score 2-1.

With time running out, Northend won a corner and from Mulholland’s cross the Carrick defender handled in the box to award Northend a penalty kick.

Ryan Gault stepped forward and kept his nerve to beat the keeper with a low shot, to make the score 2-2 with only minutes remaining.

Northend: Niall Shannon, Jordan Donnelly, Caolan Tierney, Michael Laverty, Niall Swann, Jamie Speirs, Ryan Gault, Dylan Hamill, Matthew Mulholland, Jaime Brown, Brendan O’Mullan.

UNDER-14

Rosario 5, Northend 1: Having narrowly lost to the Belfast side a few weeks ago, Northend hoped to gain some points this time but the the plan did not go to script and Northend found themselves 2-0 down after 20 minutes.

Northend did pull one back when Ciaran Ferris found himself in space and beat the keeper with a low shot but Rosario scored a third before the break.

In the second half, Aidan Hughes and Ciaran Ferris had some good chances to score before Rosario ran in two late goals.

MOM: Dylan Little, Conan Dunne

Northend: Dylan Little, Mark Robinson, Emmet Kerr, Ryan Douds, Declan McAfee, Thomas Brady, Sean McCann Ciaran Ferris, Ryan McIllroy, Conan Dunne, Aidan Hughes, Ryan Walsh.

MINI SOCCER ACADEMY

The Mini Soccer Academy continues on Saturday, April 3, at Dunfane Pitch 1 from 2.15-4pm.

For more information, please contact John Devlin, Northend United Youth Development Officer, on 0791 905 6834.

PARENTS MEETING

With the Scottish Easter Tournament at Ayr imminent, a meeting for parents of boys going on the this trip has been arranged in Michelin Club, Ballymena for this Wednesday, March 31 (7pm). All parents are requested to attend to get details of travel, accommodation and the fixture lists.