Dromore and Sunnyside in stalemate

Both teams have had close games in the past years with Sunnyside always coming out on top, or with a draw. This was the first time the team had met at 11-a-side.

The game started brightly with Dromore showing good pressure with Ben and Jack combining well up front. It was Sunnyside, however, who broke down field playing a high ball over the midfield which Dromore’s defence should have dealt with, but the ball broke to a Sunnyside midfielder who shot high into the box. Josh tried his best to save it but it was just too high and powerful, the ball just dropped down behind the line.

Dromore were put under greater pressure after the goal, but the back line of Joel, Nathan, Matthew Briggs and Morgan held firm, catching the Sunnyside players’ offside quite a few times. Dromore soaked up the pressure and soon Morgan and Matthew Magill started to get some progress down the right and won some corners.

Then Fynn and Euan, who were playing centre midfield, were beginning to break up the play. Fynn made a great tackle then produced a lovely 180 degree turn and played the ball out to Adam. Euan was pressing well and spraying balls to both wings. It was his ball over the top that caught Sunnyside napping. Ben picked the ball up and had his shot saved by the keeper, but the ball broke to Jack who spied the keeper was to the left of the goal and hit a stunning goal to the empty right hand side.

Nathan held the backline firm, meeting every high ball with a strong header. Matthew Briggs and Adam were making good progress down the left. The game reached half time level.

The second half started with a scary moment as a ball was played into the box, Josh under no pressure dropped it, but Josh calmly gathered the ball back as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Morgan started pushing further forward and supporting Matthew Magill with great passing.

Joel was starting to turn on the style at the back, with his own unique, calm, collective and cheeky play and he turned on the speed and dribbling skills that Sunnyside could only watch with admiration. But it was a powerful run from Matthew Magill who got to the Sunnyside goal line, beat the defender and put in a sublime cross that Jack finished with great finesse. The celebration was complete when the final whistle went soon after. That is 105 goals scored so far this season, with still a few more games to play.