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Saturday 3rd October 2009 - Steel & Sons Cup (Fourth Round)

Ballyclare Comrades team

Subs: 12.Kyle Agnew, 14.Ronnie Burns, 15.Johnny Gowdy, 16.Stuart Galbraith, 17.Mark McClelland

Queen's University: Hingston, Higgins, Prenter, Harper, McManus, Smyth, Tumilty, McDonald, Briggs, Kennedy, Magee. Subs: Wallace, Gilgunn, Ward, Sterling.

Comrades substitutions

Andy Long (26')

Kyle Agnew (26')

Anto Crawford (61')

Stuart Galbraith (61')

Andy Simms (82')

Ronnie Burns (82')

Goals

Dave Magee (15')

Comrades cards

Keith Armstrong (11')

Keith Armstrong (57')

Gareth Curlett (59')

Andy Forsythe (60')

Stuart Galbraith (63')

Andy Forsythe (67')

Comrades man of the match

Paddy Flood

Comrades fans can make other plans for Christmas morning, as their side will not be playing in the Steel & Sons Cup final after a disappointing home defeat to Queen’s University at Dixon Park, which saw them end the game with nine men.

Things started promisingly enough for the home side as they began in a high tempo style, but there was an early warning of things to come in the 5th minute when a swift break up field by Queen’s ended with Tumilty smacking a fine 22 yard shot off the post.

Comrades were well on top in terms of attacking possession in the first half, but perhaps failed to test the Queen’s keeper enough. However, on 7 minutes they came close when Anto Crawford received the ball inside the box and turned his marker neatly to fire a shot just over from 15 yards.

Despite conceding a lot of territorial possession, the visitors looked very dangerous on the counter attack, with a number of nippy players causing difficulties for Comrades, particularly when they attacked down the right.

One such move led to Queen’s taking the lead on 15 minutes when the home defence was exposed by an incisive thrust forward, which ended with the ball falling to Magee 10 yards out. He then confidently slotted the ball into the net low, wide of Paddy Flood; to give his side what would prove to be the winner.

Comrades continued their first half attacking domination of the game, but in truth were limited to mostly long range efforts. The closest they came to an equaliser was on 22 minutes when Andy Simms produced a good turn on the left edge of the box, but his rising shot from a difficult angle was palmed over the bar by Hingston.

Two minutes later Niall Devine, thrusting forward from right-back, did well to get in a shot from 25 yards which went just over the bar. However, Queen’s were preventing Comrades getting any chances from closer range.

The home side suffered a blow on 26 minutes when Andy Long had to retire with an injury. With no defender on the bench, a re-shuffle was necessary, with replacement Kyle Agnew going to an unfamiliar right-back slot and Niall Devine moving to centre-back.

On the half hour, Comrades produced a good move which finished with David Officer hitting a firm shot from 20 yards, which Hingston was well placed to save. However, the best chance fell to the visitors a minute into first-half injury-time, when a ball curled back into the box, after a corner had been cleared, found the head of Harper, 6 yards from goal, who looked certain to score, but was denied by a fine block from Paddy Flood, although in truth the header was too close to the keeper.

Comrades fans may have hoped their side would have re-grouped after the break and put the visitors under severe pressure, but this was not to be the case. The half began in very scrappy fashion. The home side again had the bulk of possession, but failed to create anything with it.

Then, the referee, had a ten minute spell when he went card crazy, waving a yellow card for almost every misdemeanour and by the midway point of the half Comrades were down to nine men having had Keith Armstrong (57 minutes) and Andy Forsythe (67 minutes) sent-off for second yellow cards.

This effectively killed off any real hope Comrades had to salvage the game and unsurprisingly Queen’s had chances to increase their lead. On 69 minutes a cross from the right found Magee free in the box, but his resulting shot from 9 yards was superbly saved by Paddy Flood.

Comrades’ nine men, to their credit still plugged away in an attempt to get back on level terms. On 70 minutes Stuart Galbraith was inches away from getting his head, 6 yards out, to a great cross from the right by the hard working Ricky Moore.

The home remained in the game until the final whistle, thanks to another fine save from Paddy Flood on 83 minutes, when he foiled Magee again, this time with a block inside the 6-yard box.

Comrades even managed to raise hopes of an unlikely equaliser, with a few corners and free-kicks in dangerous positions in the final minutes, but they came to nothing and the club’s Steel Cup dreams ended for another year.

The fact that Comrades were down to nine men for much of the second half, does not disguise what was a poor enough performance when the side was at full compliment. They will now have to rouse themselves for a couple of difficult league matches in the next few weeks.