Comber progress as Saintfield miss first half chances

2 March 2016

COMBER Rec and Saintfield United slugged it out for 90 minutes of a no-holds-barred contest with the result in doubt until the final whistle.

Both sides were on the ropes at different stages of this fiery cup derby, but goals from Aaron Thompson and Daniel Smyth sealed the deal for Comber who now entertain Crumlin Star in the next round.

It was Saintfield who took the early initiative and with five minutes gone Joshua Johnston-Wood blasted over after neatly carving out an opening for himself at the edge of the box.

Two minutes later at the other end Joe McKinney flashed an effort in after the Saintfield defence failed to clear a free kick from C J McGourty, but his strike lacked power and Matthew McClurg made a comfortable save.

With 11 minutes gone David Morrow got on the end of a free kick from Ryan Sofley, but he didn’t make a great contact with the ball and John Gunning had little bother saving his header from close in.

Saintfield were far from being overawed by their more illustrious opponents and continually took the game to Comber with Craig Bowman rattling a few cages in the middle of the park.

However, the visitors were given a fright when a long ball out of defence from Darren McNamee picked out Smyth in space, but he shot wide from a good position.

With 15 minutes gone Comber defended too deep and allowed Phil King to bomb forward and shoot, but he too was off target. Gunning saved from Jonny Brennan before Shane Murray did likewise at the opposite end following a McGourty corner.

Saintfield were then hit with a sucker punch in the 25th minute when McGourty fed Thompson on a run in behind the Saints back four and the former Dromara hit man made no mistake with an angled finish.

Saintfield were not for throwing in the towel just yet and Lee Johnston and Adam Childs both picked up bookings as they let Comber know that this game was far from over.

As the half drew to a close and with Saintfield still looking the more cohesive unit, Childs was inches away from converting a Sofley strike at the back post.

Comber were a different proposition after the break, but the first opening fell to Saintfield and with 51 minutes gone Bowman shot straight at Gunning following a free kick from Sofley.

A minute later in the opposite box, McClurg did well to deny Thompson from getting on the end of a cross from Stephen McCorry and he repeated the dose shortly afterwards when he denied Smyth.

It was all Comber now and with 65 minutes gone Jordan Dougherty, who had replaced Jack Arnold, fired over a tantalising cross for Smyth to head past a helpless McClurg.

This should have been the knockout punch for Comber, but Saintfield reduced the arrears when the impressive Brennan beat Gunning all ends up with a clinical strike from the edge of the box.

A frenetic last 20-odd minutes ensued, but there were no more goals as Comber held on to book their place in the fourth round.

Comber Rec: J Gunning, S McCorry, N Moore, P Fox, D McNamee, C McGourty, J McKinney, A Thompson, D Smyth, J Arnold, S Murray. Subs: M Thompson, J Dougherty, J Boal.

Saintfield United: M McClurg, D Sherrard, A Weir, L Johnston, D Morrow, C Bowman, R Sofley, P KIng, J Brennan, J Johnston-Wood, A Childs. Subs: O Duff, L Patton, M Ross.

Comber Rec 2

Saintfield United 1

CLARENCE CUP 3RD ROUND

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