The Saints welcomed Ncw Town to Ashford this Sunday morning for a league game in bright and blustery conditions. As the cliche goes it was a game of 2 halves with each teams having the monopoly on goals scored in the respective halves.
Ita’s hadn’t a competitive match since the 17th of November and it showed in the first period, with a lot of loose play and misdirected passes. The visitors were the sharper and were first to a lot of the 50/50 chances. They were rewarded in the 7th minute when Darragh Quilligan pounced on a loose ball to finish from 8 yards. The Saints were limited to chances from set plays and never really troubled the ncw keeper bar a looping effort from Eamon Carmody from distance which was tipped safely over the bar.
The lead was doubled with 31 minutes on the clock after a break down the right wing and a looping cross come shot deceived Sean in the windy conditions to nestle in the back of the net. Sean kept the score at 2-0 when he tipped a shot from the left onto the bar in the 37th minute.
HT 0-2
What ever was said by Tom Kelly at halftime, it worked and had a near instant effect. In the 49th minute TJ Kelly ran onto a ball over the top and neatly slotted it home to the right of the keeper. The Saints kept possession a lot better in this half without troubling the ncw goal too much. A Jack Long effort that grazed the outside of the post and a Callum Donoghue effort which was too central to trouble their keeper was all we had to show. Ncw kept probing looking to restore the 2 goal cushion but never really troubled Sean in goals thanks to resolute defending. With ncw pushing up it created gaps at the back which allowed TJ Kelly to run onto a ball over the top to double his tally and equalise in the 3rd minute of injury time. Ncw pushed hard to retake the lead in the remaining added time but the lads held out to take the draw.
FT 2-2
Ita’s hadn’t a competitive match since the 17th of November and it showed in the first period, with a lot of loose play and misdirected passes. The visitors were the sharper and were first to a lot of the 50/50 chances. They were rewarded in the 7th minute when Darragh Quilligan pounced on a loose ball to finish from 8 yards. The Saints were limited to chances from set plays and never really troubled the ncw keeper bar a looping effort from Eamon Carmody from distance which was tipped safely over the bar.
The lead was doubled with 31 minutes on the clock after a break down the right wing and a looping cross come shot deceived Sean in the windy conditions to nestle in the back of the net. Sean kept the score at 2-0 when he tipped a shot from the left onto the bar in the 37th minute.
HT 0-2
What ever was said by Tom Kelly at halftime, it worked and had a near instant effect. In the 49th minute TJ Kelly ran onto a ball over the top and neatly slotted it home to the right of the keeper. The Saints kept possession a lot better in this half without troubling the ncw goal too much. A Jack Long effort that grazed the outside of the post and a Callum Donoghue effort which was too central to trouble their keeper was all we had to show. Ncw kept probing looking to restore the 2 goal cushion but never really troubled Sean in goals thanks to resolute defending. With ncw pushing up it created gaps at the back which allowed TJ Kelly to run onto a ball over the top to double his tally and equalise in the 3rd minute of injury time. Ncw pushed hard to retake the lead in the remaining added time but the lads held out to take the draw.
FT 2-2
