It was a dull match

Victoria Park, Thursday 7 August 2008, 6:45PM

Dub FC (1)1 St Teresas (1)2

Michael Smyth summed up the game "It was a dull match" but in truth it was quite entertaining from the sideline. Despite the poor conditions Dub passed the ball well. Some of the passing and movement was excellent. Mullan and Donal marshelled the centre of midfield well in the first half with Phil doherty outstanding throughout the match. Aswell as Dub's slick passing (at times) they won 90 per cent of the aerial duels.

Neil Smyth (who won the captain's armband at the poker night) performed well throughout despite his misgivings about the orange jersey. He came off his line and most of the time when he kicked out and called a name it landed right on that person's (normally Phil) head. One notable exception was in the second half when Neil clearly called that he was kicking to Charlie. Unfortunately Duffy had been substituted earlier in the half and was in the river at the time trying to retrieve one of Neil's previous kick outs.

Dub started well but were caught out down the right flank and conceded in the sixth minute. For the next five minutes Sean Doherty and Smyth argued as to who was to blame, pausing briefly to acknowledge Phil Doherty's equaliser, before resuming hostilities for the rest of the game. Phil Doherty and McCann had been give responsibility to organise Dub's corners and free kicks. After hours of e-mails they came up with the solution - Donal takes it and passes to Phil. 1-1.

The rest of the half was notable for some hard battling and a number of mistimed St Teresa's tackles. Unfortunately Oakes damaged his ankle. Early indications are that he may be back in a number of weeks but we wish him a speedy recovery. Lavery came on towards the end of the half and performed well at right back. Doherty and Harvey perfomed well at the back and even found time to push forward for set pieces.

With 10 minutes to go Harvey almost won the game but from an awkward angle (4 yards out in the centre of the goal) his header went just wide. A pleased Sean doherty seemed to enjoy the moment. Dub looked like they were allowing the game to drift to a a tame 1-1 draw. Ironically Dub's aerial supremacy was undone when they conceded a late header to the smallest player on the park. A disappointing result but encouraging performance. There were some excellent performances most notably from Andy Bowd but Man of the Match went to the superb Phil Doherty. Who said it was dull?

Squad

Neil Smyth, Michael Smyth, Mark Harvey, Sean Doherty, Philip Oakes (sub 30 mins), Andy Bowd, Donal McCann, Sean Mullan, Charlie Duffy (sub 70 mins), Cormac Kernan, Phil Doherty

Subs

Jimmy Lavery (30 mins), Alan Plunkett (70 mins)

Match Statistics

Goals	Phil Doherty
Assists	Donal McCann
Yellow cards	-
Red cards	-
Man of the match	Phil Doherty