Bryansburn Win Eleven Goal Thriller On Saturday Bryansburn 1st XI surrendered a 4-0 lead and recovered to grab a two goal lead with five minutes play but still had to thank ‘keeper Black for a last second finger-tip save for a narrow 6-5 win away to Saintfield United. From the whistle, Saintfield’s tight pitch played its part in ensuring end-to-end football. Tyson fired in a loose ball from the edge of the box following a corner for an 8th minute lead but Black was forced to touch a long-range shot over the bar and both ‘Burn (Tyson again) and Saintfield saw efforts go close before the quarter hour mark. The game briefly settled with the home side favouring long balls, safely marshalled by Kehoe, Cameron, McMullan and Higginson, while Bryansburn worked on their passing game with Coard and Tyson dominating the midfield. ‘Burn moved to 2-0 in the 28th minute when Tolson collected a long Ballantine cross and beat the keeper from a tight angle and a Cameron header from a corner made it 3-0 before Coard & Higginson combined to find Morrison to slot home immediately after the re-start for a seemingly comfortable 4-0 score-line seven minutes before the break. A combination of over-confidence & naivety then allowed Saintfield to unexpectedly grab two carbon-copy goals within five minutes taking full advantage of diagonal balls to ‘Burn’s unmanned left flank and converting two crosses for 4-2 and a totally different challenge for the second half. Buoyed by their late success before the interval the home side took only one minute to further dent ‘Burn’s cushion with a delivery straight down the park evading the defence and their crisp shot bringing them to 4-3 and right back in the match. Again the match settled with Saintfield on the offensive & ‘Burn looking dangerous on the break but on the hour mark it was again the home side who found the netting and parity at 4-4 when Bryansburn failed to deal with a corner to the back post. In keeping with the roller-coaster ride theme Black then had to pull off a tight 1-on-1 save at the feet of a lone Saintfield striker after seventy minutes while his counterpart parried away a Morrison header just two minutes later. All thoughts of a comfortable win or even a 4-4 draw had by now evaporated and with subs Scott and Wallace replacing Higginson and the injured McKeown it was looking like a “next goal wins” scenario. Fortunately Tolson came to the rescue collecting the ball from a Ballantine run and evading two tackles before slotting home for 5-4 and minutes later Morrison won the ball on the halfway line and, as Saintfield committed everyone up-field, ran the thirty-five yards to fire home for 6-4 with eighty-two minutes played. Sighs of relief were short-lived when another corner mishap made it 6-5 before, finally, Black made another incredible save to secure an extremely dodgy victory. On reflection, three points are three points and, considering the absence of six regulars, this could be seen as another good result but hardly a template for future encounters. Bryansburn 2nd XI, after what had been a very promising pre-season, saw reality set in when they faced Saintfield United ll in their first league encounter of the season at Ballywooley on Saturday as they crashed 4-0. The loss of goalkeeper Wright only hours before kick-off due to illness and a change of no fewer than nine personnel from Mondays 1-1 draw against 1st Bangor ll undoubtedly played a part in what proved to be a disastrous afternoon for both players and management. From the kick off it became apparent that Saintfield’s game was to hinge around the use of the long ball, a tactic that was to prove fruitful for the opposition so much so that for long periods of the game ‘Burn, for some unknown reason, tried to match these tactics with disastrous consequences. Stand-in goalkeeper McMullan tried hard to inspire the players around him but after twenty minutes was left with no chance when Saintfield took the lead closely followed by a second. Bryansburn rallied briefly forcing a series of corners which were all dealt comfortably by the excellent Saintfield keeper. HT 0-2 The second half continued very much in the same vein as the first with the home side’s misery being further compounded with the loss of keeper McMullan to injury. A slight improvement gave ‘Burn encouragement with efforts from Cochrane, Ferris and Stewart going close but this spell soon petered out and a further two goals from Saintfield eventually killed off the game. The introduction of sixteen-year-old Carse twenty minutes from the end brightened up what was a very dark day. The 4th XI completed their pre-season programme with an excellent 6-2 win away to Comber YM ll. ‘Burn could not have made a worse start as the home side opened the scoring in the first minute before most of the Bryansburn players had even touched the ball. Slowly but surely the visitors’ played their way into the game and Gallagher was particularly unlucky to see the keeper touch his effort against the bar after a mesmerising run. Minutes later ‘Burn drew level and the equaliser came from an unlikely source as Left-back Dickson popped up in the box to score with the aid of a deflection. Sixteen year-old Carson was in nets for Bryansburn and put in an assured performance throughout, dealing with a series of crosses and long range shots as Comber looked to regain the lead. Unfortunately a defensive mistake then gifted the home side the lead but Bryansburn were still well in the game. Irwin was off target with two chances he would normally have buried before Gallagher fired home from 25 yards to make it 2-2 shortly before the break. The second half saw a majestic performance from Bryansburn as they fired home four goals without reply and could have scored many more. The Comber keeper made a few saves to keep his side on level terms before a bout of pinball in the home box which saw no fewer than four shots saved or blocked saw the ball fall to Dickson and he finished clinically to score two goals in a game for the first time ever. Sub Moore entered the fray and received the ball within seconds to waltz round four players and slot the ball past the keeper to make it 4-2. The home side were restricted to just two breakaways in the entire second half but both times when the player had just Carson to beat they fired over the bar. Apart from that the game was now one-way traffic. Cardwell had curling effort then parried by the keeper, who dived bravely to stop Dempster converting the rebound before Irwin put the loose ball wide. Moore then burst through and slipped in Cardwell to make it 5-2 and minutes later a Beattie shot from outside the box sailed over the keepers head for number six. With Paden and Gallagher torturing a now deflated home side down the flanks, Murphy running the midfield and Drew bursting forward from the back, Bryansburn really should have added further goals. Certainly Gallagher, Irwin and Beattie should all have finished good chances but the game finished 6-2. An excellent performance, particularly in the second half, which gives the side confidence for their opening league game on Saturday. Training is tonight (Thur) as normal at Ballywooley. On Saturday the 1st XI and 2nd XI both have away league fixtures while in the Down Area League the 3rd XI make the short trip to Clandeboye YM and the 4th XI entertain Corrymeela ll. Manager Stuart Mellon is still on the lookout to strengthen his squad further ahead of a possible promotion challenge after a promising start to the season. Anyone interested in joining Bryansburn will be made most welcome at the training session tonight (Thur) or alternatively contact Stuart on 07766 303458. Players are reminded that Annual Subs are now overdue and can be paid to any Committee Member.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 11:35:55 +0000
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