Newry City AFC suffered a heavy defeat on Saturday at a windy and rainswept Anderson Park Coleraine against formidable opposition in Coleraine Reserves who sit at the top of the Premiereship reserve table and who were fresh from a victory against Linfield Swifts earlier in the week. Though Newry opened brightly they were soon on the back foot and had to clear a shot off the line following Coleraine’s first corner of the match. The opening goal came in the fifteenth minute from the penalty spot when a Newry player was judged to have handled the ball even though he was lying on the ground at the time. Newry’s protests were in vain and Coleraine’s Stewart Glasgow thundered the penalty kick past Peter Murphy. Newry suffered a further blow before the game restarted as centre forward Neil Barr had to be replaced by Peter Thompson after picking up a hamstring injury which could keep him out for a couple of weeks.
The second Coleraine goal came after twenty five minutes and again it was Glasgow who scored from the penalty spot. This time there was no doubt about the award as a Newry defender brought down the Coleraine left winger Hugo Baptista. Baptista gave an excellent performance on the day and could well be one to look out for in the future. Newry did their best to get back into the game with Jimmy Walker’s shot being deflected wide for a fruitless corner.
Newry had to make a further reshuffle after 38 minutes when right back Niall Crilly had to be replaced by Paul McElroy after picking up an injury. Things got even worse for the visitors when Baptista forced a fine diving save from Murphy and Adam Mullen reacted first to fire home the rebound and give the homesters a three goal lead before the break.
Newry began the second half on the attack with Lonnie Larkin escaping two tackles before firing just wide. However this was not to be Newry’s day and Coleraine fired home their fourth goal from twenty five yards after 53 minutes agaIn through Mullen.
At this stage the weather turned really nasty and there was little chance for either team to play good football. Newry had a few chances, notably through sub Shane Lundy and from a Jimmy Walker free kick which cleared the home cross bar.
The scoring was completed when with five minutes remaining Coleraine broke down the right and Baptista fired home from close range.
Next up for Newry is a league fixture at The Showgrounds v Oxford Sunnyside on Saturday 2nd November with a 2:15pm Kick off.
Newry City AFC Team: Murphy, Crilly, Anderson, Annett, McCaul, Walker, Edgar, McMahon, Barr, Patton, Larkin. Subs: McElroy, Lundy, Thompson.
