Three and easy for United

Newbuildings United...(2) 3

Falconer, Curry, Moore

NEWBUILDINGS United secured what probably was their best result in the club’s history, at Armagh City, on Saturday.

The Waterside men booked their place in the JJB Sports Irish Cup fifth round, following their impressive victory at Holm Park.

Wesley Robinson’s side went into this game quietly confident and played the game in the same manor right from the first minute.

United were on the front foot straight away with attacks down both flanks and through the middle. A couple of chances had already gone begging before. Stephen Curry had a gilt edge chance to put the visitors ahead when he sliced his volley wide at the back post from a Falconer cross.

Falconer opened the scoring in the 8th minute from a move started from Stephen Wallace at right back onto man of the match Bryan Scanlon who sent Falconer free on the left and the winger hammered the ball goal wards, it then took a slight deflection and nestled in the bottom corner.

Armagh looked stunned by the early goal and constant pressure but United were not happy with just the one early goal and should have made two when Nathan Robinson latched onto a Bryan Scanlon’s pass, outpaced the defence, rounded the keeper and slid the ball goal wards only to see it cleared of the line by a recovering defender.

Curry then made up for his earlier miss when put through by Ricky Lee Dougherty, the midfielder had to use all his strength to hold of the close attention of Ryan McGerrigan, before coolly finishing into the bottom corner.

Newbuildings settled down into their passing game for the rest of the half and were only troubled when a scrambled ensued from a corner which ended with a free-kick to United and booking for a player from each team.

The second half saw Armagh come more into the tie with early pressure on the Newbuildings box but the visitors were always dangerous on the break with Curry, Falconer, Robinson and Dougherty carrying the ball at pace into the home defence.

It was one of these breaks that saw Peter Blair put Robinson away on the left only for Nicky Finlay to haul him down and the centre-back received his second booking and given his marching orders.

United found it hard to deal with the ten men and Armagh had their best chance soon after when a header struck the post from a free-kick.

This only spurred Newbuildings on and they soon took control of proceedings with chance after chance being created but being wasted by the front four.

It took defender Graham Moore to come up from the back to met Falconer’s cross and his powerfully diving header back across City keeper Sean Morgan found the top corner. It was goal fit to win any game and send a very vocal away support into a frenzy.

Grant Bucannan, Matthew Smyth and Mark Olphert were introduced into the game for Wallace, Robinson and Scanlon, but those changes still saw United push for more goals and only poor finishing kept the score respectable for Armagh.

Newbuildings keeper Conor Thorton was now a spectator for the rest of the match and with Jason Moore and Blair in front of him he was never bothered by the home team for the rest of the game.

After the full time whistle the party started soon after in United’s changing room and they now await the draw for the next round, which takes place in Belfast today (Wednesday) and with P McIvor, Nicholl, King and Elliott available for the next round things are looking good for the village team.

The club would like to mention the reserve management team of G Wallace and Simpson who helped prepare the squad for the biggest game of their short history. Robinson and R Wallace can now go into the final game of the year, away to Saintfield in the Intermediate Cup, with hopefully a big Premier League club awaiting them in the next round of the Irish Cup.

The club would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who travelled to Armagh to support the team, they sang for the whole match, making it seem as if they were the home team.

Armagh City: Sean Morgan, Ryan Metcalfe, Ryan McGerrigan, Nicky Finlay, Neil Cochrane, And Moore, Cillian Sheridan, John Whitten, Darren Bruce, Adam Nexbitt, Dale Montgomery. Subs: Gavin Cusack for Montgomery (H-T); Dara Noonan for Cochrane (62), Richard Nesbitt for Sheridan (72); Liam Cullen (not used).

Newbuildings United: Conor Thorton, Stephen Wallace, Graham Moore, Peter Blair, Jason Moore, Stephen Curry, Bryan Scanlon, David Scanlon, Ricky Lee Dougherty, Nathan Robinson, Gareth Falconor. Subs: Grant Buchannon for Wallace (72), Matthew Smyth for Robinson (73), Mark Olphert for Scanlon (83); Christopher Beattie (not used).

Referee: Mr Kevin Taggart (Omagh).

Cautioned: Cochrane, Nesbitt, Moore.

Sent-off: Finlay.