Hockey: Late goal rush sinks Irvine hockey club

Nov 20 2009 by John Woods, Irvine Herald

IRVINE Men's Hockey Club were beaten 5-2 at Clydesdale in Saturday's West District Division Two match.

The visitors were pressed back by a strong ’Dale side for most of the first half, with Craig McAllister, who pulled off a marvellous reaction save after just five minutes, by far the busier of the two keepers in that spell.

But in spite of McAllister's heroics, a blistering ten-minute spell just before the break, handed Bankies the advantage.

Firstly a short corner save by McAllister fell to a home player who blasted the loose ball home off the near post to make it 1-0, then a rare Billy Gemmell error allowed a home attacker in to nip in and make it 2-0 at the break.

Colin Malcher pulled one back ten minutes into the second half after working a good one-two with Tommy Murphy then the scorer put Irvine back on level terms five minutes later when he picked up a Jamie Flannigan pass on the halfway line and drove past several tackles and into the circle before rifling the ball high into the net.

Unfortunately the goals seemed to go to Irvine's heads and, as they pushed up for the winner, they left themselves criminally exposed at the back and Clydesdale took full advantage in the last ten minutes with three goals on the break to wrap up the points.

Irvine can take heart from some aspects of their display, but they need to perform that way for the whole game if they are to get back on the winning trail.

They now face a tricky trip to Helensburgh on Saturday, November 21.