Kesh perfomance pleases Campbell

Southside Rangers 0 NFC Kesh 4

THREE first half goals secured Kesh’s progress into the last 32 of the fonacab Junior Cup. A Ryan Campbell double and a strike from Josh Flack inside the first 45 minutes all but confirmed their victory over Southside Rangers, with Ryan Beatty’s second half goal easing them past their round three opponents.

Kesh manager Ryan Campbell was delighted with his team’s showing, ranking their first half as their best under his leadership.

“It was a good performance, and I would say our first half performance was the best we have played since we took over,” he revealed.

“It was very pleasing, because that first half won us the game and it was just a matter of seeing it out then. They started brightly and pinned us back early on, but we eventually kicked into gear.

“I told the players at half time not to do anything stupid from here, and that is what we did. We wanted something to look forward to in the New Year and make sure we were in the hat, and that will be good come January.”

The Ballymena side made a positive start to the match in front of their home fans, but their hopes were dented in the tenth minute when Campbell collected a long throw in from Nigel Beacom and fired in a low shot from the edge of the penalty area. The Rangers goal keeper made the save at his near post, but Fleck reacted quickest to the rebound, firing the loose ball past the prone keeper to open the scoring.

Midway through the half Kesh extended their lead.

Danny Wilson carried the ball into the penalty area and as he was about to unleash a shot he was bundled over by a defender, with the referee pointing to the penalty spot. Campbell dispatched the penalty, and on the stroke of half time scored another spot kick, this time after he had been felled as he tried to turn a defender.

The prolific striker uncharacteristically missed a great chance for his hat-trick at the start of the second half, but it made no difference to the final outcome with Ryan Beatty making sure of the win with a goal after 51 minutes.