DEVONPORT STRIKERS V’s LAUNCESTON UNITED

Senior match report – Birch Avenue

Saturday June 4, 2011

The boys made the journey to Birch Avenue in Launceston this week to take on Launceston United for the third time this season. The previous two encounters resulted in 5-2 & 7-0 victories to the Strikers.

This clash was to be an emotional one for the Launceston United club after the tragic death of their 22 year old French recruit Alexandre Rubel in a car accident on the way back to Launceston after last weekend’s game against Burnie.

From the outset, the Strikers were dominant & it was only a matter of time before the opening goal was scored. This came when Jordan Douce drove the ball from 18 yards practically through the United goal keeper. The lead was doubled when Kieran Mulraney scored his fourth of the season & the Strikers were in complete control.

Chris McKenna got the third when he was the beneficiary of a well placed cross from Scott Wilson which caused confusion between the keeper & his defenders. McKenna was left to volley into an empty net from a 45 degree angle.

Perhaps the best individual piece of play for the game came at the Strikers defensive end when a cross was headed for one of the United forwards who was seemingly unmarked & ready to shoot on goal. Kamil Douglas raced across & made a superb tackle to save his team from conceding a goal.

The Strikers fourth came in somewhat comical circumstances. Robert Macdonald created space for himself to shoot from just outside the 18 yard box & after he struck the ball, realising that he hadn’t hit it with enough power to trouble the keeper, he turned away to prepare for the keepers kick out. As the keeper went to pick the ball up, he allowed it to dribble between his hands & into the net all while Macdonald had his back turned!

McKenna picked up his second when he struck a firm half volley into the net from 9 yards to give his team a 5 – nil lead mid way through the half. Straight from the kick off, the Strikers won back possession & Bradley Chilcott played a through ball out to McKenna on the left wing. McKenna’s inch perfect cross from near the corner flag was volleyed home by Douce to give him his second of the match & allowed him join Mulraney on four goals for the season. This put the Strikers in complete control at the half time interval leading 6 – 0.

Tom McGinn wasn’t 100% happy with the performance of the team but, due to the emotion of the day, just encouraged them to keep disciplined & focused on the job.

Launceston United made a couple of changes at the interval & a much more determined effort was made by their team in the second half. The Strikers were still dominating the game & creating scoring chances but they were unable to put any of these many chances away.

McGinn made a few positional changes to give his substitutes Caz Douglas, Kurt Howard & Daniel McGinn some game time & all three performed admirably. Howard, fresh from his five goal haul in the preceding reserves game, forced a United defender into a lunging tackle around 15 minutes from full time & a penalty was rightly awarded. McKenna easily scored from the spot to collect his hat trick & 12^th goal of this year’s campaign.

The final score was a comfortable 7 – nil victory to the Strikers in what was a difficult day for everyone at Launceston United. As a result of Prospect Knights having the bye this weekend, the Strikers have now moved to the top of the league table with a two point lead.

This coming weekend the boys are away again this time against Launceston City.

ALL RESULTS

Premier League:

Devonport 7 – Launceston United 0

(McKenna 3, Douce 2, Mulraney 1, Macdonald 1)

Reserves:

Devonport 12 – Launceston 0

(Howard 5, Philpott 3, C Douglas 3, McGinn 1)

Under 18’s

Launceston 3 – Devonport 0