Easy at East for Five Goal Rec

On Saturday at Sydenham Comber Rec consolidated their league table improvement with a resounding 5-0 victory over a very poor East Belfast team. The remarkable feature of the game was that the scoreline gives no indication at all of the story of the match because it would not be in the least extravagant to say that Comber could easily have doubled their score, so one-sided was the contest, and so many were the chances not put away by a totally dominant Rec attack. Weak finishing and some sheer bad luck kept the result reasonably respectable for an East team that was outplayed and outclassed in every department of the encounter.
Rec fans were delighted by the return of Chris Nicholl who more than vindicated his selection with a power performance, until an unfortunate injury forced his withdrawal in the second half.
The playing surface was very slippy as play got under way and right from the outset it was the visitors who claimed the ascendancy, going forward with purpose and mobility. In the 5th minute Nicholl swung in a fine cross ball that found Jim McCloskey unmarked, but his header went well wide.
McCloskey threatened the East goal 5 minutes later when he was within inches of reaching a sublime Gareth Larmour deep left centre, and inside a couple of minutes Nicholl fed Gordon Leckey who turned his marker beautifully only to shoot straight at keeper Gibson.
Exactly on the quarter hour Rec went ahead. A classic McCloskey corner from the right came back across goal, was hit off the keeper, and Peter Kelly stooped low to head home from 5 yards.
It was one-way traffic, with no let-up for the hard pressed East defence. Craig McCracken worked wonders on the right of the area to set up Leckey with an inch perfect square pass, but his first time half volley flew yards wide.
Midway through the half Nicholl, instrumental in creating chances for others, had one himself when he killed superbly a dropping McCracken cross at the back post, came inside his man, but got under the ball and lofted it well over the top.
East’s only threat of the half arrived almost on the half hour when they were awarded a free kick right on the edge of the area, but the Rec wall did its work well and blocked Ashe’s effort.
As the half neared its end Rec continued to show faultless movement going forward, but all too often the final shot was delayed, or the extra touch was taken, and great scoring opportunities were lost. Leckey showed pace and control to burst past three defenders, but the final left foot shot was weak and easy for Gibson.
5 minutes from the break a perfect Nicholl cross was skilfully controlled by McCracken right in front of goal, but Gibson pushed the shot past for a corner, and almost on the whistle Marty Robinson presented Leckey with a dream chance but his shot cannoned off the keeper’s legs.
Right on the whistle a textbook Neil Magowan ball to the far post gave McCracken a clear header, but he put it past from a few yards and the interval arrived with Rec having only one goal to show for as one-sided a half as they have ever enjoyed.
Inside the opening minutes of the second period it started to seem that the home goal bore a charmed life. First a lovely McCracken header from another long Nicholl cross came off the crossbar, and then inside a minute a Leckey snapshot crashed back off the woodwork.
Leckey had another opening in the 53rd minute when he was put clear on the right by McCracken, but having done all the hard work, his final effort was neither cross nor shot and the danger fizzled out.
On the hour Nicholl was injured on the halfway sideline and had to retire, to be replaced by Brent Reid.
Rec finally scored the long overdue second goal 2 minutes later, and it was a glorious piece of individual skill. The talented Robinson dribbled neatly past two men, saw the keeper off his line, and chipped him in superlative fashion to place the ball high into the empty net.
Reid had the ball in the East net 2 minutes later from a Leckey headed cross but the goal was correctly ruled offside, but with the second goal safely secured Rec enjoyed a spell of swashbuckling, aggressive football that completely subdued any little resistance East had left.
Gibson did well to punch past a curling Robinson free kick midway through the half, and from the McCracken corner that followed Kelly headed wide, but another goal had to come and it duly did so in the 70th minute. A scramble in the goalmouth from a McCloskey corner allowed Leckey to pivot and toe the ball home just inside the post, a goal well deserved by the hardworking front man.
With a quarter of an hour left to play McCracken showed real class in cutting inside from the right and firing in a left foot drive on target, but Gibson was equal to it and dived across to turn the ball round the upright.
It was McCracken versus Gibson again 2 minutes later in a tussle for the ball on the ground, but this time the Rec striker dispossessed him with some fast footwork and stabbed the ball home to make the score 4-0.
McCloskey continued to torment the harassed home defence with pinpoint corner kicks, one of which Kelly headed over.
In the dying minutes, just after Leckey had swung on a dipping ball and half volleyed it just past, Rec added their fifth and final goal. Leckey put McCloskey away down the left, the centre was perfection itself, and McCracken crashed the ball into the net past the helpless Gibson.
This result was revenge for the one goal defeat inflicted by East at Comber earlier in the season. On that occasion Rec did everything but put the ball in the net, and for a long spell on Saturday similar frustration was experienced by players and supporters alike, but the final outcome was almost inevitable and earned Comber 3 very valuable points. Even though Keith Dougherty and Ross Hagen were missing on Saturday, Rec are increasingly able to put out a largely unchanged eleven, and this raised level of team consistency brings with it improved performances.