Walker hat-trick secures victory

Editorial Department • Published 5 Aug 2010 16:30 0 Comments

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The Fermanagh Premier Milk Cup players and management celebrate their win over Queen of the South.

Fermanagh 4; Queen of the South 2;

The Fermanagh Premier side saved their best performance for last when they easily defeated Queen of the South at the Joe Dunlop Leisure Centre in Ballymoney. Fermanagh comprehensively defeated the Scottish side 4-2 and manager Paul Keenan was ecstatic about the performance of his side.

"It has been a tough week for the lads and they thoroughly deserve the result today. They have worked really hard all week and it was great to finally get that all important victory," said Keenan.

Fermanagh got off to a perfect start: it was Lee Walker who scored the opening goal of the tie.

Walker broke past the last defender of the Queen of the South defence and calmly slotted past the keeper for a deserved opening goal for the

Fermanagh side.

The Scottish side were failing to deal with Walker's pace and it was the winger who also scored the second goal for Fermanagh. Walker latched onto an excellent pass by the hard-working Stephen Bruce and he poked the ball past the keeper for his second.

However, Fermanagh conceded a sloppy goal just after the break. A corner was not cleared properly and a Scottish attacker pounced on the bouncing ball and rifled it past Nevin in the Fermanagh goal.

Queen of the South were now on top and keeper Nevin had to be on his toes to save from a long-range effort.

As the Scottish side pushed more players forward, Fermanagh were beginning to have some luck and better opportunities on the counter attack.

Walker was the man of the moment once again when he scored his hat trick; Walker capitalised on a defensive error and he side-footed the ball past the Scottish goalkeeper for a deserved hat trick.

However, the tie was far from over and the Scottish side continued to play some good attacking football and they got their just reward, with number nine Grant Middlemiss heading past Nevin to make it 3-2.

Fermanagh were also playing some good attacking football with skipper James Turley extremely influential.

In one of the most bizarre moments of the week, Fermanagh brought on keeper Joe McGovern upfront alongside McIlwaine and it was the Fermanagh keeper turned striker who scored in one of the final stages of play.

It was Walker once again who tormented the Scottish defence with another fantastic run and his inch perfect pass inside was met by McGovern who chipped the ball over the onrushing keeper to make it 4-2.

A deserved victory for the Fermanagh team rounded off an enjoyable week of football, which provided the boys with a memorable experience and a great opportunity to develop their football skills.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 05 Aug 10

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