Seconds maintain their 100% home record

South Antrim Seconds maintained their 100% home record in Junior League 2 with this win against challengers Cookstown Thirds at Friends’ School.

South are in contention for promotion to Junior League 1 and this win was vital in keeping their noses ahead of their closest rivals.

Overall, South dominated possession in the match and deservedly took an early lead when James Brown finished off a flowing move instigated by the impressive John Semple. This seemed to spur the visitors into action and Cookstown enjoyed a period of sustained pressure on the South defence, mainly through winning a succession of penalty corners.

Poor execution ensured that the South goal was rarely threatened and good work by the defence and Joaquim Noaves in goal and Willie Redpath jnr in particular meant there were no goals conceded by the Lisburn team.

South proceeded to give Cookstown a lesson in finishing penalty corners when Patric Cochrane set up John Semple to finish at the back post to double the home team’s advantage at the halfway point. This was an important goal for South and the Cookstown heads dropped visably, giving them a mountail to climb in the second half.

With South firmly in control, a third goal was added when Willie Redpath jnr stormed forward and exchanged passes with John Semple before giving Mark Conn the simplest of tap-ins to take the game beyond the reach of the visitors. South could have made it four when Neil Wilson volleyed the ball into the roof of the net only to see the umpire signal an infringement.

While Cookstown did get a consolation goal with minutes to play, South will be more than happy with this result.