RAPHOE CAME FROM a goal down to defeat League leaders Instonians on Saturday and the Royal and Prior.
Raphoe 2 Instonians 1
In their second last league game of the season Raphoe went a goal down against the run of play in the first half, but they dug deep in the second half and earned a well deserved victory with a 2 – 1 win.
Raphoe nearly took the lead in the first minute when Alexander Tinney flicked the ball from midway through to Luke Witherow who just failed to get the final touch inside the circle.
All the running came from Raphoe in the opening exchanges and they should have taken the lead midway through the half but Witherow miss hit his shot in front of goal with only the keeper to beat.
Raphoe’s defence coped well with everything Instonians had to offer with Simon Goudie, William Wauchope, Paul Stewart and Alan Meehan having outstanding games with goalkeeper Johnny Rankin having little to do in the first half hour.
Raphoe kept pressing and Instonians defenders couldn’t cope and kept making mistakes and Raphoe’s next chance fell to George Patterson but he saw his shot hit the side netting.
Raphoe let their guard down for a couple of minutes at the end of the half and during the period they had Ben Wallace and Simon Goudie harshly sin binned and during this spell Inst took the lead when Chris Kirk was left unmarked at the back post to tap the ball home.
Raphoe kept it tight for the next few minutes until they got their full compliment of players back on the pitch and again they lifted their game and took it to their opponents but they couldn’t find an equaliser before half time.
Into the second half and it wasn’t long until Raphoe were back on level terms as Luke Witherow found the target from open play.
Against eleven men Instonians had no answer to Raphoe’s constant pressure and Witherow doubled his and Raphoe’s tally five minutes after his first with another exquisite finish giving the keeper no chance.
Instonians won several short corners during the half but couldn’t find a way past Rankin or the two Meehans on the goal line.
Midway through the half George Patterson was sent through one on one with the Instonians centre back and having beaten him with ease he saw his shot fly just over the crossbar.
With time running out Instonians eventually woke up and tried to create something out of nothing and from a short corner the umpire awarded a penalty stroke when the ball was deemed to have been stopped on the line by a Raphoe foot.
After a short delay where Instonians couldn’t decide who was to take the stroke William Robinson eventually won the argument but saw his effort easily saved when Johnny Rankin dived to his right to keep the ball out.
With only a few minutes left Raphoe held on for a well deserved victory.
This was an excellent performance from Raphoe with every member of the squad full of running and energy and putting in a great shift.
With only Mossley left to play at home in the league on 2nd April Raphoe currently lay joint third in the league with Belfast Harlequins who have to travel to Newry in their final game of the season so third spot and a place in the IHL play-offs is still within Raphoe’s grasp.
Push back for Raphoe’s final game against Mossley on the 2nd of April is 2.30pm at the Royal School Grounds.
Raphoe: Johnny Rankin, Simon Goudie, William Wauchope, Alan Meehan, Paul Stewart, Alexander Tinney, Ben Wallace, Keith Meehan, Alan Lyttle, Luke Witherow, Stephen Cleverley, Ian McGonigle, Kit Regan, George Patterson. Coach: Rodney Bates. Manager: Richard Eaton.
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