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Crusaders v Newry City Sat 22nd March 2008

A much better performance this week for Crusaders. We ran out comfortable and deserved 4-1 winners. For the first quarter of an hour the ball spent much of the time being played between the two midfields with not much being created up front. The first real chance fell to the Crues when a goal bound rocket of a free kick by Eamon Doherty was well tipped over by the Newry keeper. Darren Lockhart ran with the ball to the left side of the Newry box and was bundled over. Referee Adrian McCourt had no hesitation in pointing to the spot (this time he didn't seek the advice of his psychiatrist on the sideline with the flag ...). Lockhart stepped up himself to take the penalty and the Crues took the lead when the keeper was sent the wrong way. A long ball from Aaron Kerr in the Crues net was headed on by Chris Morrow nicely to Davy Rainey but he couldn't keep his shot below the bar. Crusaders were now starting to control possession and a good run down the left by David McBride led to a cross which was headed out only as far as Rainey but again the folk on Premier Drive had to duck. Kerr had nothing to do as Newry's efforts were virtually non-existent. Crusaders nearly went into the break two up when a Morrow shot was blocked and rebounded up to Lockhart who saw his overhead fly just wide.

Half time Crusaders 1 - 0 Newry City

The second half saw more sustained pressure from Crusaders and it was a surprise when Newry equalised when a free kick was flicked on and past Kerr in the Crues net. This seemed to wake the Crues out of a comfort zone and 3 minutes later Rainey ended his mini goal drought with a good individual goal. He beat 3 defenders (and nearly himself) and faced with only the keeper to beat he made no mistake with a confident strike. Less than 5 minutes later Crusaders more or less wrapped the match up when Jordan Owens picked up a loose ball in the Newry box and cracked the ball low into the corner. By now Newry weren't asking any questions of Crusaders and almost inevitably Crusaders added to their goal tally. A long ball was played upfield and Owens, as usual, won the ball and flicked it on to Morrow who without breaking stride tucked the ball past the outstretched keeper to round off a good for himself and Crusaders. We have introduced a Player of the match whereby fans can sponsor and pick their player of the match. This week's Crusaders player of the match was Steven Coulter picked by Tom Patterson.

Full time Crusaders 4 - 1 Newry City

Team

1:Kerr 2:Magowan 3:McBride 4:Doherty 5:Smyth 6:Coates 7:McAllister (70 Owens) 8:Lockhart (85 Crawford) 9:Coulter 10:Rainey 11:Morrow

Referee - Adrian McCourt

Other Reports

Crusaders v Institute 8th March 2008

Crusaders v Larne 1st March 2008

Coleraine v Crusaders 23rd Feb 2008

Lisburn Distillery v Crusaders 16th Feb 2008

Crusaders v Linfield CIS Final Sat 2nd Feb 2008

Crusaders v Dungannon Sat 26th Jan 2008

Armagh City v Crusaders Sat 12th Jan 2008