Bens celebrate as Vale produce their ‘worst ever performance’
CONSIDERING Benburb had suffered just one defeat in their opening eight league games and Rossvale were undefeated in seven, a close fought encounter was widely anticipated when the teams came together on Saturday.
The fact it wasn’t and the Bens were convincing 2-0 winners might be attributed to a sorry performance from the visitors but that should not be allowed to detract from a Govan side that grabbed this top-of-the-table clash by the scruff of the neck right from the first whistle and bullied their opponents into submission.
And in this day and age when team managers choose their words carefully so as not to come across as over critical, how refreshing to hear Vale gaffer Gordon Moffat’s summations tell it as it was.
He blasted: “We just didn’t turn up today and I can honestly say I’ve never seen a Rossvale team perform so poorly.
“Benburb never resorted to kicking us as such but they still came out on top in the physical one-to-one battles all over the pitch because their players got in our faces and didn’t allow our guys to get the ball down and play as we wanted.
“That’s a right you have to roll up the sleeves and earn in Junior football but we were brushed aside and appeared to be totally swamped in midfield to the extent that the 2-0 scoreline flattered us if truth be told.
“I have said for some time that our undefeated status was glossing over a lot of our shortcomings and today was our reality check.”
Defences were on top early on, however an indication of Benburb emerging as the more likely of the two teams arrived after 12 minutes play when Rossvale midfielder Liam Crichton had to blast a cross over his own crossbar from six yards out to prevent the ball reaching Bens winger Willie McLaren at the far post.
McLaren’s left foot brought out a terrific diving save from visiting keeper Jamie Donnelly, who also kept out net bound efforts from Kyle Richford, Ciaran Mulcahy and McLaren again as the Bens turned the screw.
A vicious swerving cross by McLaren struck the top of the crossbar and Donnelly also needed a goal-line clearance from team-mate Kirk Forbes to deny a Richford header and keep his goal intact at the interval.
The home side were to the fore again in the second half and the long awaited breakthrough finally arrived in 51 minutes when McLaren’s free kick delivery from out left found big defender Ryan Livingston rising highest at the back post to send a downward header past the helpless Donnelly.