Bryansburn Rangers travelled to Dunmurry YM last Saturday and despite an unconvincing performance came away with a 3-1 win.
The away side came flying out of the blocks and were unlucky not to go ahead after great work by Malomo-Paris. The opening goal did arrive moments later after great play by Maguire who fed the ball for Culbert to side foot into the corner of the net.
The home side rallied quickly and found themselves back in the game when the referee gave a very dubious penalty much to the disbelief of both teams and supporters. ‘Burn upped their game but some very poor passing and finishing left the scores level at halftime.
After a few harsh words from the Management Team at halftime the visitors almost scored straight from the kick off only for the home keeper to deny Tumelty. Moments later the same player rifled one from the edge of the box into the bottom corner only for the referee to signal offside ruling that Culbert had got the final touch.
The YM started to get on top of the game and only great defending and goalkeeping from Steventon kept them at bay. Twenty minutes from time Tumelty scored his 17th of the season to put Bryansburn in front after great play from Cooling and Coard down the right hand side.
Again the home side came back at ‘Burn and only great defending and goal-line clearances from Cooling and Rick Barr kept the away side 2-1 to the good.
Shortly before the final whistle, after a long throw from McGimpsey, Culbert used his strength to hold off a Dunmurry player and he turned and smashed the ball into the bottom corner to leave the final score 3-1.
Not a great performance but another three points and with Newcastle drawing against Dundonald its all to play for as Bryansburn are still in the promotion mix with eight games remaining, seven of which are at home.
The 3rds pulled off a remarkable win against Comber YM in the Supplementary Cup fighting back from 4-1 down to take the tie to extra time before eventually winning on penalties.
‘Burn actually made a bright start and took a deserved lead when Cardwell capitalised on a poor defensive header to run through and drill the ball under the advancing keeper. The visitors could then have doubled their lead when Corr took a quick free-kick and the Comber keeper denied Dempster with a superb save.
However after that it was the YM who took over. They played a very direct but effective game and ‘Burn had no answer to it. They quickly equalised scrambling the ball home from a corner, took the lead minutes later when a forward was first to the second ball and by the time they added a third goal were well on top. ‘Burn struggled to get the ball down and play with only Corr providing much threat and Bryansburn were perhaps fortunate to be only 3-1 down at the break.
The second half did not start any better with Brady having to make one great save before Comber made it 4-1 with the ball going straight in from a corner. With the tie all but over a change in tactics saw Right-back Cole withdrawn in favour of Edwards up front as ‘Burn switched from a 4-4-2 formation to 3-4-3. Suddenly Bryansburn were having more joy as Comber struggled to pick players up and ‘Burn aided by the instrumental Murphy began to get the ball down and play. With Beckett bombing down the left there was now a belief that the game was not yet over.
On the hour mark Dempster turned his man thirty yards out and threaded a precision ball to Thompson who took one touch and fired home to make it 4-2. Six minutes later it was game on as a flowing six man move ended with Corr rifling the ball into the top corner from just outside the box. The momentum was now totally with Bryansburn with Comber looking a shadow of the team that had controlled the first half. Corr and Cardwell went close before the equaliser duly arrived in the 78th minute. Again it was a flowing move with the ball finally finding Lemon at the corner of the box and he drilled a low effort into the bottom corner.
Bryansburn pushed forward trying to finish the game within the ninety minutes but their hopes took a blow when they were reduced to ten men. Suddenly it was a case of making sure that the tie did go to extra time and they held on despite a late Comber rally.
With twenty minutes extra time to come ‘Burn abandoned the three at the back policy because of having a man less and reverted to a 4-4-1 formation, Peeples coming on at the back to replace Dempster up front. The idea was to hold on for penalties. The tactic worked well because although ‘Burn never looked like scoring neither did Comber. As time ticked away ‘Burn had two lucky escapes. Firstly a free-kick struck the outside of the post and then a Comber forward beat the offside and lobbed the advancing Brady only to see the ball drop just over the crossbar.
Disaster struck with two minutes remaining when the referee awarded a penalty against Peeples, which was duly despatched. Comber thought they had won the tie but Jones immediately replaced Cardwell and Peeples was sent up front to try and redeem himself and that is exactly what he did turning the ball in from twelve yards to make it 5-5. Straight away he was back in defence as ‘Burn made sure that they did not throw the game away after so much hard work.
So to the shoot-out with regular penalty taker Dempster and his deputy Cardwell both off the pitch. However it did not matter as Bryansburn scored all five penalties while Comber put one of their four wide. On target were Corr, Edwards, Lemon and Peeples with Murphy hitting the winning kick.
Very poor first half but a scintillating comeback with a Quarterfinal tie against either Ballygowan or Newtown Forest the reward. Best for Bryansburn was Corr.
The 4th XI travelled to Stranmillis 37th OB ll for a Tommy Murphy Memorial Shield match and drew 3-3.
‘Burn made a great start going 2-0 up in the first ten minutes through J.Geddis and Jeffers. The home side then worked their way back into the match and it was no surprise when their Centre-forward fired high into the net after half an hour to reduce the deficit. They continued to look the more likely to score but it looked like Bryansburn would take their lead into the interval when a corner on the stroke of half time was handled in the box and the resultant penalty was duly dispatched to level the scores.
37th continued the second half where they left off and took the lead twenty minutes in when a half cleared corner was hooked back over goalkeeper Geddis for a fine goal. ‘Burn improved after this with chances falling to Taylor and Patterson but with time running out it looked like the equaliser would not come. However, a couple of minutes from the end, sub Crawley was fouled just outside the box and Jeffers stepped up to curl a lovely free kick into the top corner off the crossbar to leave the final score 3 all.
Fixtures this Saturday: 1st V 1st Bangor OB (h), 2nd XI V Shorts FC ll (a), 3rd XI V Ballygowan (h) and 4th XI V Agape ll (a)
The next social function is a “Nite at the Races” in the Rose on Saturday 24th April so please keep that night free. Horses are now on sale – please see Alan Dempster. Tickets are available for that event and also for the Annual Dinner and Awards Night in the Marine Court Hotel in May. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come basis. Again see Alan Dempster.
