Ambassadors FC v Ardmore Rovers
Saturday 6th March 2010
Kernan Playing Fields
It had been three weeks since Ambassadors FC last took to the field for a competitive match, so this game had been much anticipated and our opponents on the day Ardmore Rovers were not to be underestimated. The pre match talk was about remaining focused casting aside all nerves but making sure that today was the beginning of a good run of form.
In traditional Ambassadors FC form the opening 5 minutes were unconvincing, some bad touches, decisions and passing resulted in Ardmore dominating the early exchanges, but some good defending and consolidating seen us through the bad patch unscathed. Finally we started to play some football putting together passes and gradually easing our way back into the game. It was then still against the run of play that we took the lead. A corner from Phil Anderson was spilled by the Ardmore keeper and Kyle Matchett reacted quickest to head home the opener, the goal was Kyle’s 3rd in only 3 games. The goal without doubt settled the nerves and Ambassadors continued to dominate, the second goal then followed when some good play down the right involving Johnny Stewart found Michael Irwin inside the box, who without hesitation smashed the ball beyond the keeper.
Halftime 2 – 0
The second half was a very cagey affair with both teams knowing that the 3rd goal in the game could be decisive. Ambassadors forwards tried everything to get the third goal but some resilient defending and unusually poor finishing kept Ardmore hanging in. As the half progressed Ardmore created a few half chances before Alan Cooke pulled of a magical save. The Ardmore forward found himself unmarked from a free kick only to be denied by great reactions from Cooke. The back line was holding strong with Ian Erskine winning all the attempted long balls to the forwards. Ambassadors then killed off the game when Bryan Chud hammered the ball past a helpless Ardmore keeper giving him his 17th goal of the season and Ambassadors all three points.
All in all a good game and a great result, next up is a mid week cup game against league favourites Dungannon Tigers, it proves to be a good test and should be a good game.
