Senior 3: Parkview 0-0 DLHC 1XI
It was an open and scrappy first quarter for the 1XIs of Parkview and Donaghadee Ladies last Saturday in the final match of the first half of the Senior 3 season. 

Donaghadee really struggled to settle into their stride in the opening exchanges and indeed it was the home team with the first break through when they created a chance at the top of the Donaghadee circle to fire a shot in on target but the Dee defence was able to clear the danger.

At the other end Donaghadee finally registered their first shot on target as the quarter entered the final minute, but the Parkview keeper was equal to it to leave the scoreboard untroubled as the whistle went for quarter time.

If the first period was a struggle for Donaghadee, things didn’t improve much in quarter two, as they found it hard to retain possession, only managing a single shot wide of the goal to show for their efforts. At the other end, Parkview looked the more threatening, with a penalty corner and a shot to their name, but half time was reached and things were still scoreless.

The half-time oranges seemed to waken Donaghadee up a little and the team started to get their game together. A number of breaks down the right caused the home side problems, and a couple of well-won penatly corners helped the stats, but didn’t change the score, with one saved and one sliding wide of the post.

As the quarter entered the final couple of minutes, another break on the right saw a Dee shot on goal heading to the top corner but unfortunately the ball hit the Parkview sweeper and the game was stopped for five minutes while the injury was dealt with.

Into the final quarter and it was largely one way traffic for Donaghadee as they applied wave after wave of pressure with attacks launched on the Parkview goal from all angles. Despite a number of shots on target and a couple of very well struck penalty corners, the Parkview keeper kept up an excellent defensive performance to keep Donaghadee out.

The final whistle blew and it was still scoreless, with an excellent defensive performance from Parkview getting them a deserved point. Captain Jan Morrow was voted Player of the Match and she thanked Mike Smyth for umpiring and extended Donaghadee’s good wishes to the Parkview captain for a speedy recovery.

The 1XI have a week off before back to match action on Saturday 27^th January.

Junior League 9A: Dromore 3-1 DLHC 2XI
On Saturday DLHC 2s faced visiting team Dromore at Bangor Grammar School. The game kicked off with an early offensive move from Dromore which was swiftly thwarted by a wonder save from Dee keeper Faith McMullan.

After some end to end play, a penalty corner was taken against the Dee defensive line up consisting of Lisa Higgins, Claire Horne, Zoe Turtle and Laura Hamilton. With an excellent wide ball from Zoe and speedy working back of Caroline Davison the ball was delivered to Molly McKee on the left wing who with her usual pace, rattled up the side line making the first of Dee’s many attacks. Sadly it was not to be this quarter, ending 0-0.

The second quarter say Dee stepping it up with fantastic play in the centre of the pitch. Lisa finding herself in an unfamiliar position of right back, intercepted a shot from Dromore attackers passing it onto Abbie Brown who picked the ball up before delivering it to Molly in the circle scoring what can only be described as a Kerry Kennedy style near impossible goal from the back line into the top corner of the net, giving Dee a 1-0 advantage at the end of the first half.

Coming into the second half, Dromore came back fighting and broke into the circle scoring their first goal of the game matching the score to 1-1. Laura Niblock, Johneena Brown and Emily Morris worked tirelessly to regain the ball and pass it out to Molly on the left, supported by Katie McKee on the right. Despite 5 chances in the circle the Dromore keeper was not letting the ball past, keeping the score to 1-1.

The final quarter saw a shift in the game with Dromore dominating most of the play with countless attacks. Midfielder and captain Erin Hamilton worked with Abbie in defence to try deliver the ball to the forwards but who could just not get it past a strong Dromore defence. Following a converted penalty corner and Dromore taking advantage of another couple of dangerous attacks, the clock hit full time and the game ended 3-1 to the visiting team.

Thank you to those who came down to support the team on Saturday. This week’s star player was awarded to Lisa who despite being over on the right and away from her usual position on the left (at least on paper!) did not hesitate to get stuck in and support the team across the pitch.

There is no game for the 2s next week but both teams return to Bangor Grammar on Saturday 27^th January, starting with the 2s against Newry at 1pm where all support will be welcome and appreciated.

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