Barnstorming Performance by Comber Rec

Comber Rec racked up their fourth clean sheet win in a row at Haslett Park, Carrickfergus on Saturday with a convincing and comfortable 2-0 win over Barn United. Apart from a penalty kick opportunity, Barn never looked capable of penetrating a dominant Rec defence, and although Comber did not create as many clear cut scoring chances as has been the case in recent games, they still carried enough threat up front to take home three league points.
It was a miserable afternoon for players and supporters alike, with a persistent rain that fell steadily throughout the ninety minutes.
 Rec kicked off with the fairly strong downfield wind in their favour, and took the initiative right from the whistle.
Craig McCracken’s trickery on the right side of the area in the 5th minute gave him a sight of goal but he drove his shot across the goalmouth, and then McCracken turned provider a few minutes later with a fine through pass for Brent Reid, but the Rec midfielder wouldn’t shoot and the chance was lost.
Barn were under serious pressure at the back, and scrambled away a Ross Hegan back header from a long Keith Dougherty throw-in. In their first break out Hilditch was caught well offside, but there was little forward movement with any bite.
The slippery surface was causing problems for some players, but on the quarter hour Marty Robinson turned nicely and fired in a 25 yarder that was just a yard over the top.
Lough had a half chance at the Rec end when the ball was poorly cleared from a free kick, but he volleyed well over.
Midway through the half Rec were inches from going ahead. Barn keeper McClune spilled a Gordon Leckey shot on the ground and the in-rushing McCracken got his toe to the ball but at the wrong angle and it squirmed just outside the upright.
Almost on the half hour Barn suddenly were handed the opportunity to take a surprise  lead when referee Millar awarded a penalty for a Gareth Larmour challenge in the area. The decision was a controversial one, but also ironic in that Larmour gave as polished a display of full back football as could be wished for, and could lay just claims to be considered man of the match. In any case, Lough stepped up and struck a very good spot kick, but Brian Burgess pulled off a terrific save, dropping to his right to parry the shot and then collecting the ball on the ground before the rebound could be returned. It was a wonderful piece of goalkeeping and denied Barn the goal they hardly deserved.
Just four minutes later Rec pulled ahead. Hegan’s long header found McCracken and when his beautifully struck low drive flew back off the left post, Jim McCloskey swept the ball cleanly into the net from the other side of the area.
Barn were awarded a series of free kicks for indeterminate Rec offences, and Hilditch fired in a 30 yard one that wasn’t too far outside Burgess’s right post, but the keeper seemed to have it covered.
With the wind on their backs, Barn came out in the second half and pumped a number of long high balls into the Rec area, but Peter Kelly and Neil Magowan were in full control and it soon became clear that the home side’s tactic was not going to bear fruit.
Larmour put over an exquisite diagonal ball from the halfway sideline to find McCracken, but he was blown up for another puzzling infringement, and then, with ten minutes of the second period played, Barn’s Mathers was sent off for a dreadful two-footed tackle on Robinson.
Rec were having success down the right side, and a lovely Magowan run and cross ball was well punched off Leckey’s head by keeper McClune. Then superb McCracken play on the same side produced a centre across the goalmouth but it was too strong to allow a touch home.
Rec added their second goal soon afterwards and, as with the first, it came exactly midway through the half. A huge Burgess kick out was nicely controlled on the left byeline by McCloskey, and when his cross was smacked against the crossbar by McCracken, Leckey gratefully headed the rebound home from a few yards.
Leckey then hammered a Reid cross over the bar from 5 yards just minutes later, and he was no doubt pleased to be ruled offside. Reid also worked hard near the right flag to wriggle free of his marker, but his cross ball was too hard and too deep to give his front men any chance of connecting.
The best moment of the remainder of the action was a classic McCloskey 25 yard strike that cleared the left frame of the goal by less than a yard, before Rec cruised to the final whistle in spite of a couple of Barn corner kicks from the right side.
This was a Rec team with very few weaknesses, and another true team performance that knocked the hope out of the opposition. Apart from a failure to shoot on a couple of occasions in the first half when, with the wind in their favour, it was the best thing to do, Rec chose the right options, especially at the back, where they simply suffocated the home attack. Another clean sheet now means that in four matches Rec have scored sixteen goals and conceded none, the kind of statistics that are possible with a settled team.