U12s make it through to plate semis

Craigavon City U12s 0

DROMORE won their way through to the semi-final of the Mid Ulster Plate on Saturday with a well deserved win over Craigavon City at Lurgan Park.

Although the first 20 minutes were fairly even with both sides creating a number of chances, Dromore required a last gasp Ben McConnell tackle and also a point blank save from their keeper Jamie Hanna to prevent Craigavon from taking the lead.

Dromore soon started to take charge and – despite a few Craigavon chances thereafter - never really looked back. Some excellent passing by the midfield in the latter part of the first half resulted in a succession of Dromore corners which Matthew Clements delivered accurately into the box every time.

However they failed to capitalise on these chances and it looked like the first half would end in stalemate until – right on the stroke of half time – the ball was played up the right hand side of the pitch to William Donnelly who brought it under control and ran right through on goal to place his shot low into the right hand corner of the Craigavon net.

The second half continued in much the same format as the first had ended – plenty of neat passing and moving by the Dromore players resulting in a number of chances on goal which were either wasted, saved by the Craigavon keeper or – on two occasions – stopped from going into the Craigavon net by the woodwork.

Craigavon did however have their chances of their own and time and again the ball was played up over the heads of the Dromore centre-halves resulting in a sprint between attackers, defenders and goalkeeper to get to the ball first.

Indeed on one occasion Craigavon could well have been awarded a penalty when the Dromore keeper appeared to catch their striker during one of these contests.

Although Dromore reacted to this threat by bringing on another defender to shore up their defence, they still looked the more likely team to score and it was no surprise when five minutes from the end, they doubled their lead.

More pressure from the Dromore attack led to the ball breaking to William Donnelly inside the Craigavon penalty area. Although William’s shot was saved by the Craigavon keeper, the ball rebounded to Matthew Clements who hit a crisp shot into the back of the net.

Credit must go to all of the Dromore players for an excellent performance. The whole team showed a will to win that has looked to be sadly missing in recent weeks and if these efforts are replicated throughout the rest of the season, more wins will surely follow.

Team – Jamie Hanna, Daris Benallal, Ben McConnell, Jack Canning, Matthew Clements, Jack Fullerton, Scott Thompson, Dion Dawson, William Donnelly, Simon Percy, Jordan Brush, David Houston.