Arranmore Utd Draw 2-2 With Orchard Utd

The visitors came to the island with aspirations of winning the title but left very lucky to get a point as it took a hotly disputed 90 minute penalty for them to get a draw. Jerry was forced into key positional changes as Rua was out due to work commitments which saw Conor Proctor thrown between the sticks. It also seen the return of former captain Edward McGowan after a 7 year absence which took the average age of the team way up! Edward and the lads started brilliantly soaking up the early pressure and took the lead after 10 minutes when Chris was taken down in the box. Daniel Rocky made no mistake from the spot. Declan doubled the lead on 20 minutes when great build up play saw him fire home from a very acute angle. Orchard had plenty of the ball but the lads worked very hard with Chim, Wan and Marty clearing everything that came into the box. Michael, Edward, Sean and Chris worked tirelessly in the midfield and Declan, Przemeck and Rocky were causing havoc every time Arranmore broke. Stand in Keeper Conor dealt comfortably with everything that came his way.

 Half time 2 - 0

The expected onslaught from Orchard came at the start of the second half but the lads defended as if there lives depended on it and Przemeck had a chance to kill the game but his effort went just wide. Orchard hit back on the hour when their full back strode forward and hit an unstoppable shot into the top corner. Arranmore continued to soak up the pressure and were harshly penalised when despite Daniel being clean through with an open goal he was crudely taken out and to compound matters the offending player only received a yellow Card. The referee then made another glaring error on 88 minutes when he blew offside against Chris when he was about to score, this despite the attacker coming from a position where he was clearly onside. We all knew what was coming as 2 minutes later on the stroke of full time the referee then gave Orchard a penalty which they made no mistake from. Very harsh on this young and vastly improving Arranmore team who continuously punch above their weight.

Jerry has assembled a team that have a huge pride in the jersey and if this team stay together for 3 or 4 years they will be a force. Not bad from a population of 450. Great team performances with Declan, Wan, Chim and Marty outstanding.

Team: Conor, Sean McCaluey, Wan, Ruan, Declan, Marty, Ed, Chris, Michael, Przemeck, Rocky.

Subs: Phil Boyle for Przemeck, Sean Conlon for Chris, not used Jason.

No game next Week