May 1st 2010 – Away

League

Lisburn Rangers v Orangefield 1st XI

Orangefield had set themselves a goal of finishing in the top four at the start of the season and so to guarantee this they had to get a result today away at Lisburn Rangers who are currently one place behind in 5th spot.

The management emphasised how important it was to go out and get a good start in the game, but it must have fallen on deaf ears as Orangefield looked like they had nothing to play for. Lisburn started with a high tempo and Orangefield were second to the ball all over the pitch. Up front a few chances in the opening minutes went begging for Orangefield and at the back Lisburn were applying the pressure. It didn’t take long for the pressure to tell when the Lisburn forward went through the middle and slotted the ball into the net. A short time later a free kick knocked into the box from the Lisburn right was met with a free header to put Lisburn 2-0 up.

Orangefield upped their game slightly until half-time to keep Lisburn from scoring any further, but all round a big lift was needed to get back in the game.

Half-time: 2 - 0

A few stern words at half-time by the management were enough to kick the Orangefield team into action, and so from the start of the second half the team began competing and winning a lot more of the ball. The home team were pegged into their own half for a lot of the second half, but still a couple of chances for Orangefield missed the target. It took a free kick from near the half way line before Orangefield got one back. The ball was lofted into the box and well met by Dean Cousins in the air for a flick over the out coming keeper and into the net. This spurred Orangefield on and after applying some more pressure were rewarded with a corner on the right hand side. A good ball whipped in by Jonny Gibson was headed in by Andy D’Arcy for his fifth of the season. Orangefield felt the winner was coming and with minutes to go Bryan Reynolds broke down the left hand side, meeting a ball over the top before the keeper. He knocked it towards the back post and before the Lisburn defecnce could get back in big Clarkey rushed in a slotted it home.

With the game turned around and Orangefield deserving of their win in the second half, the game was spoilt by the Lisburn forward who knocked the ball into the Orangefield net after an injury to a Lisburn player. The ball was played back by a Lisburn midfielder intended for the Orangefield keeper who had thrown the ball out on the referee’s request, only for the Lisburn forward to run onto it and knock it in. What a player.

In the end it didn’t matter as Orangefield have secured fourth spot, a good season all round Well done lads! Let’s hope we can build on this and push on for promotion next season.

Full-time: 3 – 3

Lineup: J. Darlington, R. Hardy, S. McNaul, A. D’Arcy (Capt), A. McCartney, J. Gibson, D. Cousins, Ducky, B. Reynolds, C. Dempster, C. Harvey Subs:, N. O’Neill, R. McNaul, D. Tittensor.