Firsts move into title contention – Seconds miss out

A remarkable fifth successive win has taken Carryduff Colt first team into third place in the league in their best ever run since promotion to the Newcastle Premier League four years ago.

The transformation from last season has been remarkable but they face a serious test of their title credentials when they face Celtic Bhoys at Lough Moss (2pm) next Saturday as they have also only lost one league game all season.

The latest success against Ballynahinch Olympic was expected but it was far removed from the record breaking 20-0 win of a few weeks ago as Olympic had brought in a number of players from their Amateur League team to strengthen but Colts ran out 3-1 winners in a hard fought game.

They got off to a flyer when young Arron Waddell, making his first start of the season after a few substitute appearances, got on the scoresheet after just two minutes with a fine finish.

And Colts were 2-0 up after 15 minutes when there was a goalmouth scramble following a corner and the ball ended up in the net via a Ballynahinch defender.

There were a few  flying challenges coming in but Colts stood up well and had a great chance to put the game out of reach when they won a penalty in the second half but Waddell failed to convert. He nearly made up for his mistake though when he hit the bar after a good run and shot.

Olympic then  found a way back into the game when Adam Shilliday committed a foul and they reduced the arrears to 2-1. But man of the match Kealan Devlin secured the points with a thundering header from a great cross by Conor Magee. With the game safe, Colts re-took control of the game and the goalkeeper was lucky not to be send off when he committed a dangerous challenge on Fergus McBride.

Colts: Mulholland, Murphy, Hegney, R. McDonnell, Devlin, McBride, Cassidy, Waddell, McSorley, Shilliday, Brownlee. Subs: Deeny, Magee, E. McDonnell

Meanwhile, the seconds great run of results came to an end when the lost 2-1 to Comber.

They started slowly and found themselves 1-0 down at the interval and equalized when debutant Sean Irwin was brought down in the penalty box and Jordy Toal converted the penalty.

However, Comber restored their lead with what looked to be a soft penalty and despite pressing for the rest of the game were unfortunate not to get the equaliser their second half performance deserved.

Luke Holden, Jack Crompton and Jamie Maynes all put in good shifts, but man of the match was Sean Irwin on his debut.