NAFDL League Division One
Saturday 5th November 2016
Dromara 3 Ballynahinch Swifts 1
The Swifts travelled to Dromara for this NAFDL Division 1 League fixture on what was a bitterly cold afternoon.
Dromara Village seconds are currently unbeaten in the league and are considered to be one of the main contenders and it was they who started the brighter of the two teams with their movement and desire to attack pinning the Swifts back.
It was Dromara who struck first when they scored in the 10th minute with a brilliantly headed goal and as the pressure mounted five minutes later it was 2 -0 when a loose clearance was drilled into the net from outside the 18-yard area giving keeper absolutely no chance.
Indeed during the first twenty minutes, the Swifts could have been further behind had it not been for some excellent defending or saves from McMenamin. Things began to change as the game reached the midway part of the half with the Swifts getting much more of the ball. New signing Scott Hunter began to benefit from the graft Gavin Crawford on his first full game after injury and Stuart Hunter who created a number of chances all of which were well dealt with by the Dromara defence and goalkeeper.
In the second half, the Swifts changed their set up and became a much more potent force. Defensively Onhua, Fitzpatrick and Burtney stood firm while Allison, Davis and Cheevers worked the right wing forcing corner after corner, but sadly the final ball wasn’t there with a number of crosses and corners over shooting the penalty area due to the strong cross wind.
The Swifts eventually got a breakthrough when Davis played Cheevers in and his shot clipped the post rebounding to Davis who shot firmly into the net. Further chances came with Ross Murray and Onhua seeing headers go narrowly over the cross bar while Scott Hunter and Craig Tate saw free kicks blocked.
Dromara’s attacks were limited to breakaways which took a lot of pressure off their defence and in the closing stages as the Swifts committed so much to attack one of these forward forages saws them score a third goal with a cruel deflection beating McMenamin.
Manager Alan Davis was delighted with what he saw from what is essentially a young squad the majority of which are playing adult soccer for the first time and are playing an exciting brand of football which augers well for the future.
