Northend United U-11s produce another five-star performance

The U12s were also in action against Glenavon and can count themselves unlucky not to get at least a share of the points.

Elsewhere in the Lisburn League there were defeats for the U13s, U14s and U17s, with the U14s falling to last season’s champions TW Braga and the U17s losing a tight match against Lisburn Rangers, with Rangers only scoring their winner late in the game.

The teams in the North West and Coleraine District league had a free week, with the pitches being deemed unplayable at their Coleraine University base.

UNDER-11

Northend United 5, Glenavon 0: Straight from the kick-off Northend took the lead as Ben O’Neill ran forward and played the ball to Jay McKeown who crossed for Shea O’Broin to slot the ball into the back of the net.

Ben Adams played the ball to Ben O’Neill who ran from inside his own half to stretch the Glenavon defence and laid the ball across for McKeown to finish for 2-0.

The third goal came when O’Broin ran forward, drew the defender and slipped the ball to McKeown who slotted the ball past the keeper.

McKeown won a corner and it was a very pleasing goal from the coaches point of view as a move straight from the training ground worked perfectly as Ben O’Neill found space at the edge of the box and drilled his left footed shot into the top corner. Again it was O’Broin skill that created the fifth goal as he beat a couple of players and chipped it through to McKeown who placed it into the bottom corner to complete his hat-trick.

Northend: G McClean, B Adams, C McAvoy, J Magill, B O’Neill, S Bristow, S O’Broin, J McKeown, B Bell, K Wakefield, A Cruise

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Glenavon 2, Northend United 1: It was Glenavon who edged themselves in-front with a swift counter attack around nine minutes; however Northend’s response was fantastic and they repeatedly carved open the Glenavon defence.

The equaliser came on 13 minutes when Kevin Cosgrove picked up a loose ball in midfield before ghosting past the Glenavon defence and firing the ball into the net.

Glenavon delivered a sucker punch against the run of play with three minutes remaining, the Northend response was full of character and a terrific Owen Campbell half-volley smashed down off the bar in the final minutes, but just fell on the wrong side of the goal line.

Northend: S McDowell, D Mc Kay, J Adams, D Magill, O Campbell, K Cosgrove, T Mitchell, L Hector, C McMurray and K Barr.

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Northend United 0, Lisburn Youth 4: Northend met a strong good footballing Lisburn youth side.

Northend were sloppy in tackles all day and three of the goals conceded should have been prevented.

Northend: C Richmond, J Montgomery, H Wylie, C Higgins, R McKillop, P Ferris, C Campbell, J Morrow, R McQuillan, A Campbell, I Steele and C McGaughey.

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TW Braga 3, Northend United 0: Northend came up against the Lisburn league champions TW Braga on Saturday. With both teams struggling in the league thus far this season it was always likely to be a tight game.

In the end, Braga deserved a win but the score line was harsh on Northend.

Northend: J McCalmont, M Stewart, L Rea, C Forsythe, J Coates, J Dallas, R Mark, C Metrustry, D Robinson, Z Clarke, R Dunlop, C Meeke, J Currie, J Kirkwood, R McMullan.

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Lisburn Rangers 3, Wakehurst 1: Wakehurst fell behind on 23 minutes, when Lisburn scored direct from a corner.

However the Hurst heads didn’t drop and they equalised on 30 minutes when Sam Bennett scored a header from a Wakehurst corner.

Against the run of play, Lisburn went back in front in the game, with twenty minutes of the match remaining, giving keeper Anthony Shaw no chance. Wakehurst made their final substitution with Declan Dobbin coming on at full back and Jamie Stevenson being pushed up-front. The Lisburn keeper pulled off a good save from a Timms free-kick with ten minutes remaining before diving to push a Stevenson shot around the post.

However as Wakehurst kept pressing for a deserved equaliser, they were dealt with a sucker punch, with two minutes of the match remaining, when Lisburn scored their third goal to kill off the Wakehurst fight-back.

Wakehurst: A Shaw, J Stevenson, L McAllister, J Lowry, J Timms, S Bennett, T Campbell, J McLarnon, J Anderson, O Dick. A Milligan, R Laverty, D Dobbin.