Northend United Youth FC round-up: Gr-eight ‘derby’ win for U-12s

The Northend Blues produced their best team performance of the season to further cement their position at the top of the U12 table.

Also in the Belfast and East Antrim League, Johnny Sayers U13s dropped their first points of the season, when they drew 3-3 with Antrim Colts.

In the Elite National League it was a mixed bag of results at the weekend with the U14s losing to Glendowan while the U16s beat Sion Swifts 4-3 with Keith Hall netting Northend’s first hat-trick of the season in the National League in this match.

In the North West and Coleraine and District Youth League, the Northend Babies U9s recorded their first win of the season, beating Portrush 4-1.

The U10s dropped their first points of the season, going down 2-1 against Bertie Peacocks, and finally the U11s also lost against a good Bertie Peacock’s team in only their second match of the season.

On Friday night, the Club’s Youth Academy continued at their Showgrounds venue with almost 40 boys and girls in attendance.

UNDER-9

Portrush 1, Northend 4: Northend’s U9s recorded their first win of the season with a fantastic team display.

It was Portrush, however, who took the lead on ten minutes when they broke swiftly from their own box to capitalise upon a momentary lapse from the Ballymena side.

Within two minutes they were back on level terms following a neat finish from captain Cory McMillan.

With the wind at their backs the ‘Baby Blues’ drove forward again and it was Jack Adams who fired home their second goal on 14 minutes following some excellent build up play down the left side of the pitch.

Adams saw a long range effort crash off the crossbar before Northend scored their third just after the re-start when Peter Bristow’s cross from the left was calmly stroked into the net by Adams.

And the same player completed his hat-trick with an effort from just inside the box. MOM - Jack Adams.

Northend: O Campbell, D Magill, J McPeake, C McMillan, P Bristow, R McGrath, J Adams, C Gatt, J McFettridge and C Wilson.

UNDER 10

Bertie Peacocks Youths 2, Northend 1: Northend fell behind in unfortunate circumstances on 16 minutes when the referee inadvertently got in the way of a Calum Kilgore back-pass, it fell nicely to a Bertie Peacock forward, and his deflected shot, beat Northend goalkeeper Euan McSparran.

In the second half, as Northend pushed forward looking for the equaliser, Bertie Peacock caught them on the break with a second goal.

Northend had no option but to push forward more and Ciaran Campbell who pulled one back for Northend after the Bertie Peacock keeper failed to hold a Christy McKillop shot. MOM - C Kilgore.

Northend: E McSparran, C Kilgore (c), F McQuillan, O O’Mullan, C McKillop, H Wylie, C McCarroll, P Ferris, C Campbell.

UNDER-11

Bertie Peacocks Youths 5, Northend 0: This score line does not reflect the chances Northend had and if they had taken them the score line would have been a lot tighter.

Despite the result, this was an improved display from the players, who never gave up and played to the final whistle. MOM - Josh Coates.

Northend: S Higgins, J Givens, J Kirkpatrick, J Coates, O Connolly, C Metrustry, C Meeke, M Stewart, J Scullion, C Forsythe, D Kyle, R Campbell.

UNDER 12

Northend 8, Ballymena United 1: Northend maintained their unbeaten start to the campaign with this stylish win.

The deadlock was broken after 10 minutes, after some lovely football, Scott Sempey floated in a delightful cross straight onto the head of Josh Mitchell, who did not miss from only five yards out.

Northend’s second goal came after 22 minutes, a great corner was whipped into the box by Sean McKay and Conor McGarry was at the back post to hammer the ball home from close range.

The third came from another cross after lovely fluent passing move by Northend, the ball was played wide on the right to Josh Mitchell who sent in a direct cross to Scott Sempey who headed home.

Robbie McGaughey claimed the fourth of the game with another great mazy run from midfield, skipped past several tackles and blasted the ball home from just inside the box.

Northend’s fifth came after a penalty was awarded for a tackle in the box. Oliver Hampshire drilled the ball at the keeper who spilled it and Ruairi Campbell followed up and blasted the ball past the stranded keeper.

In the second half, Sean McKay opened his account with Northend’s sixth, before the Blues’ defence was breached when a misplaced pass across the defence was picked up and Ballymena scored their only goal.

Northend’s seventh came from some scrappy play and the inability of Ballymena to clear the ball which allowed Robbie McGaughey to nip in and squeeze the ball past the keeper at his near post.

Northend’s final goal came on 56 minute , Stuart Lecky picked up the ball on the far side of the pitch, stepped inside the defender and placed the ball past the keeper.

Northend: L McAfee, S Sempey, O Hampshire, R McCluney, J Mitchell, C Meneely, R McGaughey, M Willighan, T McAuley, P Kyle, R Campbell, C McGarry, S McKay(c), S Lecky.

UNDER-13

Antrim Rovers 3, Northend 3: Northend took the lead on seven minutes from a breakaway after defending a corner, as Kuba Babuszewski beat two men before playing a excellent through ball to top scorer McCartney who slotted past the on rushing keeper.

Antrim equalised through their forward to out muscled the Blues defence and blasted past the helpless Marks in goal.

United never stopped and within two minutes were back in lead when James Hayburn played a delightful ball that penetrated the Antrim defence and found Brandon Millar who unleashed an unstoppable shot that found the top corner of the goal.

The second half seen much of the same with United failing to convert their chances, and it came back to hunt them as Rovers scored two quick goal to leave it 3-2 until 6 minutes before the end Macartney rounded the keeper and scored from an acute angle. MOM - Graeme McCartney.

Northend: J Marks, J Hayburn, A Shaw, D Dobbin, A O’Boyle, J Stevenson, K Babuszewski, H Lennon, B Millar, M Kirk, G Macartney, M Erwin, A Campbell, N Stewart, S Hutchinson, H McClurkin

UNDER 14

Glendowan 5, Northend 1: Northend fell to defeat against one of the title favourites despite taking an early lead when Scott Wilson’s effort from a corner was saved but Conor Graham was on hand to smash the rebound into the net.

A few minutes later Glendowan equalized when a sloppy back pass was intercepted by the striker and he rifled the ball past the helpless Eamonn Elliott in the Blues nets.

Scott Wilson and Stephen Olliver both went off injured and as the team was being reshuffled again Glendowan quickly scored twice to send them in 3 1 up at the break.

The second half didn’t get any easier for the Blues with Glendowan scoring two more goals without reply and Oliver Boyle and Jack Dawson both going off with injuries.

Northend: E Elliott, J Galbraith, O Boyle, R Dennison, J Dawson, S Olliver, G Stewart, C Graham(c), S Wilson, Z Herbison, S Olliver, H McNally, A Milligan, J Carson, B Cairns, R Horner

UNDER-16

Northend 4, Sion Swifts 3: Northend took the lead on 15 minutes when a Speirs pass found Keith Hall and the big striker outpaced his marker and slid the ball past the Sion keeper.

Northend could have scored several more goals in a one-sided first half before Keith Hall put the Blues 2-0 up on 30 minutes when he slid the ball past the keeper, following a defensive mix up.

Northend were caught on the break in the second half when a high ball into the Northend penalty box wasn’t dealt with, the Sion striker skipped past a Northend defender and planted the ball past Ross Swan, in the Northend nets, leaving the score 2-1.

This was a wake up call for the Blues and just when it looked like Sion could get back into the game, Jamie Speirs went on one of his trademark runs at the Sion defence and when he crossed the ball into the Sion box, Keith Hall was on hand to smash the ball into the back of the Sion net to restore Northend’s two goal lead.

Even better was to follow for the Blues. Another attack down their left hand side saw the ball crossed to the back post when Ciaran Heggarty was on hand to smash the ball into the top corner of the net to give the Blues a 4-1 lead, with ten minutes of the match remaining.

With almost everyone going in search of goals, complacency set in to the Northend team and a late flurry from Sion saw them score two goals in the final minutes of the game. MOM - Keith Hall.

Northend: R Swan, M Laverty, S Hare, J Cameron, A McAvoy, B Etherson, N Swann (c), S McGoran, C Lemon, K Hall, J Speirs, L Scroggie, A McLaverty, R Gault, C Heggarty, E Crossan, R Sloan

FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

Northend’s much acclaimed Football Development Centre continues on Friday 12th October at Ballymena Showgrounds Pitch 3 for boys and girls aged 4-10 from 6-7.30pm.

For more information, or to reserve your child a place on the course, please call John Devlin on 07919056834.