Setback for seconds with away defeat

COOKSTOWN THIRDS 5

SOUTH Seconds suffered a setback on Saturday as they were beaten by 5 goals to 1 by a strong Cookstown side at Coolnafranky.

South travelled to Cookstown with a young side due to a host of injuries and unavailability’s and fell behind early to a slick move which ended with a tap in at the far post. South began to feel their way into the game and were unfortunate not to equalize when Mark Conn squared across goal only for Jamie Cochrane to see the ball just miss his outstretched stick. With Paddy Cochrane coping well in the middle of the park South were building pressure on the Cookstown defence but were unfortunate to go further behind when after another good move an attacker finished well from just inside the area.

South found themselves two goals down going into the break but it was encouraging to see that despite the changes to the team the away side created a number of chances and were technically sound around the pitch.

Into the second half South continued to hold the ball well going forward with Stewart Bittle enjoying his role as the focus of attack. Unfortunately their naivety told when they lost the ball 30 yards from goal to allow Cookstown in again to further extend their lead with a strong strike from close range. South did manage to pull a goal back though when the impressive Paddy Cochrane scored into the roof of the net following a free hit on the edge of the circle to give them hope of a comeback. Cookstown were in the ascendancy though and scored a fourth from a short corner which was deflected high into the net and they extended their lead further after a South player was dismissed to put some gloss on the scoreline.

While South will be disappointed with the final score line they will be pleased with their continued improvement this season and especially the positive attitude throughout the match shown by the team.

Thanks, as ever, to George Redpath for travelling to Umpire.