www.ltbfc.com ¬ Lurgan Town Boys FC

Lurgan Town under 18s made the trip to Crumlin on Saturday and came away with a share of the points after a 0-0 draw with Crumlin Utd. Town stared the game with plenty of possession with Jones and Hamilton linking up particularly well on the left flank. Hamilton’s crosses into the box were causing problems for the Crumlin defence and almost put Maguire through on goal in the opening minutes. Kennedy and Crozier then stepped it up with some neat one twos between each other creating an opening for Crozier only his shot was straight at the Crumlin keeper. Town then took their foot off the gas and Crumlin were soon punishing the Town midfield for their sloppy passing which allowed Crumlin to get their first shot of the game from thirty yards, only to see the Lurgan keeper save comfortably. Town then lost midfielder Kevin Hagan through injury and on came Jamie Speers in the centre. Town were being caught on the back foot and the defence was being pegged back due to the freedom of the Crumlin midfield. Hamilton was working well on the left flank and was proving to be Lurgan’s only threat with his passing and determination. His free kick from thirty yards almost broke the dead lock, forcing the keeper to make a shock save after everyone on the pitch expected a crossed ball. 0-0 at half-time.

The half-time team talk proved a wake-up call for the young lads as they raised their games and soon were first to every ball and were passing the ball more fluently. Towns defence were playing well as Crumlin hadn’t had any clear cut chances and were giving their goalkeeper very little to do. Parks and Carson were winning the ball at every opportunity and sweeper McCabe was keeping things tidy at the back. This allowed wide men Kennedy and Hamilton to bomb forwards and support the front men. Hamilton was shortly replaced by Campbell who added fresh legs to the attack. Lurgan bombarded the Crumlin defence but couldn’t score the goal they deserved. Any shots from the town men were being blocked and blocked again and luck was defiantly not on their side. They remained in Crumlin’s half of the pitch throughout the majority of the second half and any time Crumlin broke, the ball was soon won back by the Towns defenders and played into midfield again were Kennedy or Speers would start an attack once more. After an array of shots in the dying seconds, one of which seen Maguire come close, the final whistle blew on what was another battling performance from Lurgan who are showing tremendous character each and every week.

Best for Town were Carson, McCabe and Parks after another solid display from them in defence but man of the match goes to Dale Hamilton who stood out on the day with a quality performance on his full debut.