Rec Defuse Malachian Menace

At Park Way on Saturday Comber Rec entertained a Malachians side bubbling with confidence from their seven goal triumph seven days earlier. The home team had to show spirit and resilience to recover from an early setback before ending up fairly comfortable 4-1 winners. The match was gripping from start to finish, a contest between two talented teams wanting to play football and offering seesaw entertainment in raw weather and slippery conditions.
Rec had Neil Magowan again in the back four, with young Adam Welsh up front in attack and Gordon Leckey on the bench as Mals kicked off from the whistle of Damien Grimley, who went on to give yet another fine performance in charge.
 The visitors immediately settled into their game, moving the ball long and quickly to Doherty and Donnan operating as twin spearheads down the flanks. It was Donnan who had the first goal chance in the 6th minute when a bouncing ball broke to him on the left side of the area, but although he controlled it cleverly, he clipped his cross shot behind the goal.
Rec were having trouble getting going in midfield against the mobility and determination of the Shore Road men whose first real effort on target was a Doherty snapshot in the 10th minute that Brian Burgess took cleanly. It was Doherty again who threatened a minute later, but Magowan did well to block the drive inside the area. At this point of the encounter the visitors were setting the pace and asking all the questions
On the quarter hour the Malachians pressure paid off. Donnan wriggled free of a challenge on the right and poked a short pass to Doherty who pivoted nicely and slid the ball wide of Burgess into the far corner of the net. It was a well taken and well deserved goal, but the scorer was injured and shortly had to be replaced. From that moment the edge seemed to go off the Malachians attack, and Comber were able to push forward more comfortably and impress themselves upon the game.
Rec’s first half chance arrived with 18 minutes played. Welsh worked well to set up Marty Robinson but he skied his strike well over the top.
Donnan continued to pose problems for the home rearguard down the right side, but Peter Kelly gradually got to grips with his ball playing skills and eliminated most of his threat.
Midway through the half, and just after Burgess had made the taking under pressure of a wicked corner kick look easy, the balance of play started to swing more in Rec’s favour, although Mals remained a menacing and well organised outfit. On the half hour a three man passing sequence allowed Welsh a shot that Turner did well to block at the critical moment, but suddenly the Rec midfield had moved up a gear and Mals’ dominance slowly dimmed.
A Robinson cross found Craig McCracken in the box and Reid did well to deflect his header for a corner. Jim McCloskey took the flag kick from the right, but Kelly put his header well over the top.
With ten minutes remaining of the half Rec drew level. McCracken’s short corner on the left was driven low on goal by Robinson and Kevin Monson got a touch to help it find its way into the bottom right corner of the net.
Amazingly Comber then went ahead inside a minute. Gareth Larmour played a lovely ball down the left , Welsh outpaced his marker and drove across a ground ball that Robinson hammered home past Faye at the back post.
Two lightning strikes in quick succession put Rec in the driving seat, and a Malachians team that had threatened to overrun the home side earlier in the half never fully recovered from these hammer blows.
A vicious McCracken first time centre in the 40th minute from the right caused momentary panic in the Malachians goalmouth, and in the next minute Faye held Robinson’s header from a Monson cross. The keeper’s long kick out bounced awkwardly for the Rec defence and Donnan found himself in the clear on the left edge of the area, but screwed his shot wide of the right post.
The last action of a pulsating first half was a McCloskey drive from a Welsh lay-off that was well blocked by McVeigh.
The second period was only a minute old when McCracken was inches away from stretching the Comber lead with a run and first time shot that shaved Faye’s left upright. The striker then had a left foot strike blocked just three minutes later from a Welsh cross ball, but Donnan showed in the 8th minute that Rec could not relax at the back when he swivelled sweetly on a Dargan free kick and hit a good effort a couple of yards wide.
Exactly on the hour the large crowd saw great action. Robinson’s superb 25 yarder was heading for the net until Faye made a great save in turning it over his crossbar.
Sub Gordon Leckey was putting himself about to good effect for Comber, and got on the end of a McCloskey centre but placed his header too high.
Midway through the half Mals were awarded a free kick right on the edge of the area, but Dargan wasted the chance over the bar, and 5 minutes later Rec pulled further ahead with a nicely taken goal. Glorious Robinson play on the left side ended with a ball into the box that was poorly cleared, and McCloskey pulled off a kind of scissors kick to blast the ball home from 15 yards.
Malachians had a penalty shout for hand ball waved away by the referee. For a brief spell the Greencastle side managed to get back into contention as they tried to reduce their two goal deficit, but the power of Ross Hegan and his fellow defenders denied them any clear scoring opportunities.
Leckey showed good skill ten minutes from time in killing a high ball, turning his man, and firing in a shot on target that brought another excellent save from Faye, who at full stretch turned it round the post. McCloskey took the corner kick, Leckey headed it down, and Hegan rattled it high into the net from a couple of yards.
Almost on the final whistle the referee had to redcard  Malachians defender McVeigh, but he had no choice, having already given him a yellow card and two verbal warnings. It was a pity to close such a fine game of football with a sending-off.
Rec fans saw their team make a slow start but then impose their will upon a bright Belfast team that was handicapped by the departure of Doherty and an injury to central mainstay Reid. This was by any standards a really impressive display by Rec, with Larmour and Hagen outstanding, and the final 4-1 scoreline, painful as it may be for Mals, does not at all flatter Comber.