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This eagerly awaited contest ended being one of the worst performance displays Dundonald has produced this year. The Duns started with an untried or tested formation of 5-3-2. While this did give plenty of cover at the back it sucked the midfield into the middle killing any forward passing football that has been played so many times this year inviting Immaculata to flood their wings and invite them onto us. With the midfield being over run the Duns where resorting (uncharacteristically) to playing long balls over the top and while this may not be pretty it almost paid of when Glen Irvine picked up the ball from a defensive mistake and only had the keeper to beat but again uncharacteristically he tried to lob the keeper only to see his effort go wide. Jamie Thompson had a similar chance not long after and seen his effort go over the bar. The Mac piled on the pressure putting balls into the box but the Duns were coping well. Just before half time one of the high balls into the box found a Mac midfielder who had blatantly used both his hands to pin down Jonny Scott and climb above him to slot the header home. The Duns felt very hard done by feeling it should have been a free kick but got little sympathy from the ref who give the Duns little to nothing all day.

The second half picked up were the first had left with the Duns playing very poorly and Immaculata playing the better football and when big Craig McCcormick gave away a silly penalty to give the Mac a 2-0 nil lead instead of the usual Duns fighting spirit it just seemed as if 99% had lost heart. No complaints about the 3rd as one of the younger Mac players picked the ball up in the box unchallenged and put it into the top corner leaving Marchant no chance. The second half sawthe introduction of Gabby, Jakey and young Jonny McCabe who came on to fight a losing battle. Gabby found himself in the box with time to swing on it but like so many other things that went wring he found himself scuffing it hitting a tame shot back to the Mac Keeper. The fourth Mac goal seemed to sum up the day with big Craig McCormick trying to play the ball back to the keeper hitting it soft giving the Mac forward a perfect through ball and even though when he played it to his strike partner who was a good 5 yards offside when he took it and scored nobody from the Duns even shouted for the off as by that time any heart and fight left in the game was long gone which was frustrating to see. On another day we would have taking our chance and not made the mistakes at the back, but thats football so at the very least the Duns can concentrate on finishing the league in style as they only need 6 points for promotion and 8 to win it. Hopefully the performance improves for next week or the Duns could find themselves on another defeat as they play Albion who probably give the dones one of the hardest league games this season.

Managers Man Of The Match:- Ricky Thompson, probably the only player who came out of the game with any credit

 Duns 4-2 temple

14/02/09With Temples pitch again being unplayable the venue was switched to Billy Neil to give Dundonald home advantage. The game started with a lot of very unusual changes the the Dundonald side. Goal Keeper Marchant was brought into left back, Andy Weir was axed for not training, young Anto was dropped who was at training, Ryan Lavery was brought into nets and Fitsy and Wardy were switched from the left hand side to the right hand side in game that saw changes being made that reminissed of a game of musical chairs. With kick off under way the Duns took an early lead through Geln Irvine running through to slip it past the Keeper in the first couple of minutes. The Duns seemed to think that this was going to be another case of turning up to get the 3 points and took there foot of the pedal. This wasn't the case and within minutes a lobbing through ball give the young forward a chance on which he buried with a touch of class giving keeper Lavery no chance. The Duns battled on but with regular keeper Marchant looking a bit lost at left back, and probably still a bit worse for wear from the night before, Temple were finding a lot of Joy up the their right flank with dipping balls over Marchant catching him out of position on a few occasions to give the Temple ginger winger a lot of time and space to make a nuisance of himself out on that flank. Half way through the first half the Duns were caught flat from a corner when again the young forward who scored the first found himself with acres of space and unmarked the blast home from close range from the inswinger after arriving late. The Duns found themselves for the first time since the first Rooftop game being behind and looking very out of sorts. Right before the half Marchant made amends for any lack luster performance up to then when he snuck up at the back post to land a free header in past the diving Temple No.1. With the whistle being blown for half time the Duns looked a shade of the team who beat Newington in the match before this with very little to get excited about performance wise.

Second half saw the introduction of Ricky Thompson for Marchant who came on and made an instant difference to the side, he beat players put great challenges in and seemed to give the rest of tghe team a bit of incentive to start playing some decent stuff. Watd and Fitzsimmons were swapped back out to the left to deal with the ginger winger who caused problems in the first half, which seemed to work with the winger having a very quiet half. The Duns stepped it up a gear and could have went further ahead when a high ball into the box found Jonny Scott a yard out, but with visions of glory blindinding Scotts common sense he decided to try East Belfasts version of the 'Hand of God' which Dieago Maradonna made famous. In reality everyone from Portrush to Armagh, including the ref, could clearly see Mr Scott pick the ball up mid air and slam dunk it into the net and then try to protest something about hearing a whistle LOL, maybe next time. The Duns performance improved marginally and when young Ross Orderly stuck the ball in to the top corner to make it 3-2 the team started to relax and play a bit more like themselves. The second half also saw the introduction of Jakey Dalton and Jonny McCabe who came on and both had solid performances. The result was wrapped up when Glen Irvine scored his second of the day by slipping it past the advancing keeper to seal the result at 4-2. A very scrappy performance from the Duns who have had a lot of performance inconsistencey this year, thankfully its still 3 points and retain their unbeaten league record. Overall MUST DO BETTER

Managers Man Of The Match:- Irvine

 duns 2-0 newington   

24/01/09

First off I know the reports late but ive had flu so relax here it is. The day started a lot brighter than previous weeks and the usual arctic conditions seemed to have passed for the mean time leaving all be it not warm but at least bright and sunny weather conditions. Newington arrived along with a large section of there first team watching as there match had been called off with a couple into strengthen the side of their seconds. Right from the off the 4-4-2 formation proved to be the right choice as the Duns took the game by the Scruff. Newington tried to play football but with every Duns player seeming to be on their game they pressured NRFC of the ball on most occasions. The game turned a corner when the Newington number 11 took a swipe at Captain Scott Mallon and hitting him square in the face whiile Scott was getting back to his feet after a perfectly good tackle. This event flared a lot of Tempers especially with left back Ward who for a 5-10 minute spell decided to forget the football to blatantly bust the number 11 on a few occasions with some dangerous bad tackling. With the shake of a hand from Ward to the number 11 the Tempers died as quick as they stared with both sides getting back to the football. Young Fitz on the left was having a great game linking up well with the two front men of Irvine and Thompson. Jonny Scott and Scott Mallon where thriving in midfield with super tackles and through balls all day long and with Willie McCune weaving in and out on the right flank the high flying Newington new they where up against it. McCormick and Weir dealt superbly with the tricky number 10 who tried on several occasions to come back from offside positions to then break on runs to full the Duns centre backs but to no avail finding not only them but Bell and Ward both very much on their games. The first goal came from a move that could have graced any Premiership pitch in some of the best displays of football seen this year. With Mallon, McCune, Scott, Thompson, Irvine and Fitzsy enjoying some beautiful one touch defense splitting balls pinginging about up the right hand side to eventually fall to young Fitz just outside the 18 for him to 'T' it up and slip on the follow through for the ball to loop up and over the keeper and into the net. Great build up and crazy goal but they all count.

Second half picked up pretty much where it left off with McCune smoking the left back to the amusement of the line before Fitz and Ward decided to go one better playing keepy ups over the newly added number 15's head before Ward smoked him and played a great through ball for the Duns new addition Jimmy Stewart 'Gabby'. The seconf half saw the introduction of Jakey and The Special One Niblock to keep up some great standard of football. Newington pressed late on but only to find the back four in great form stopping every advance dead. The half played out with everyone in the team having what can only be described as a great day performance wise. With 5 minutes left Gabby found himself gifted with an absoloute sitter of a chance that he would have found it harder to miss. Coming out for the ball the keeper found the ball not being played back to him but headed over the top of him by his own defender to find Gabby standing by himself at the back post looking like he was waiting for a bus, he thankfully accepted the gift and poked the ball in with his forehead to put the Duns firmly in the driving seat 2-0 up with only minutes to go. Gabby could have again added to his total when he missed a volley 6 yards out ,again unmarked, and see the ball scuff away. The Duns ran the game out worthy winners and can be proud of the level of performance they put in. Hopefully this standard will continue right to the end of the season and if it does there shouldnt be a team in the league who should stop them this year. Well done Duns

Managers Man of the Match:- Fitsy

The Duns expected a tough game from the team who are on a run of 6 wins and thats exactly what they got, not so much from Breda but from the gail force winds, drenching rain and the rediculously low temperature. All credit to to Breda who are a team 100% improved and who looked nothing like the time that got battered 6 at Billy Neil. The new look team held up well at the back and seemed to inject the flanks with a lot more pace.

Theres no doubt that the Duns played the better football in the first half but only marginally as the conditions slowly got worse by the minute. With the Duns playing with the wind at their backs first half it ended up being more of a hinderence than a help. The usual pin point through ball passes, which the Duns pride themselves on, turned into runaway balls and wasted efforts time and time again as the wind picked them up to frustratingly run them out of play on the majority of attempts.

The back 3 of Law Bell and McCormick again played well with Ward being put on the right wing back position, who found himself by passed out of the game the day and contributed very little and having just a handful of touches. Young Fitz played a bit better on the LWB position with a lot of the play coming from there in the first half. Jonny Scott, Scott Mallon and Andy Weir all battled well in the middle of the park and played soime nice stuff on occasion. Glen Irvine and Willie Mccune, like Ward found themselves chasing a lot of hopeless balls as the wind continued to increase in strenth through out the half making it very difficult to get on the end of anything. Half way through the half player manager Brian Law found himself go close from a corner when he flicked on an effort to go marginally over the bar.

A big factor in the game was undoubtedly the Breda referee who time and time again give rediculous decisions in favour of the home side, it was becoming increasingly hard to take as the missed free kicks against us, imaginary free kicks for them, crazy throw in decisions increased through out the day not to mention the total diregard for the offside rule anytime his side advanced. On several occasions he left the Duns infuriated with some of his blatant cheating that even some of his own players didn't know where to look. At one point he gave a throw in to the home side after one of the Breda players cleared the ball out and not have a Duns player near him or the ball. To which the Breda players became a bit embarressed by him and very sportingly threw it back to the Duns defense, FAIR PLAY Breda. Thankfully the Duns kept their cool, which was easy in the minus degree temperature, and went in half time 0-0.

Coming out second half it was easy to see the escaltion in the weather conditions and youd have been forgiven for not coming out of the changing room at all, but both sides did and kicked off the second half with the Duns now facing winds and rain that made it difficult to get the ball 5 yards without it coming back at you like a boomerang. Breda rightly so took full advantage of the switch by putting an extra player upfront. Breda stepped up their game and took it to the Duns who by now were finding it extremely hard to even open their eyes due to the rain that felt like sand hitting you at high speed.

10 minutes into the half the referee pulled the two captains aside and told them that if conditons didn't improve that he would call it off or sooner if they both decided so. Both teams went back at it and with Marchant not even able to make it out of his box from by balls the Duns were up against it. At one point parts of the school adjacent to the park ripped of the roof and blew across the pitch. The Duns Captain, Scott Mallen, at this point asked the Breda captain if he wanted to abandon the game to which he declined feeling the crazy wether conditions now favoured the home side for a chance to take something from the game. 10 minutes after the ref pulled the two captains to the side he blew his whistle to abandon the game which saw 22 players subs and coaching staff take of like someone had fired a starter gun in a 100m race towards the changing rooms to escape what can only be describe as a severe storm.

With the Duns line timing it at only 15-20 minutes max played in the second half the whole team headed to the showers in hope to restore heat to the aching chill blained bodies with the possibility of being able to string a sentence out without the jaws being frozen together thinking that the game would obviously be replayed. It wasn't until the Breda manager stuck his head in started talking about a result and having played over 70 minutes somehow that theyed be looking for the result, to which he hastily retreated when being met with alot of angry Duns players who told nothing about the game being called as result beforehand and especially not with only 20 minutes at the very max being played. Its quite obvious that Breda are looking for a small victory and trying to claim a result for a game that was no where near finished. Hopefully somebody at the club will grow a set and get the game replayed, but going by the way the referee and manager were getting on I think they are going to try steal the draw. It has to go to the league but hopefully, if theres any sense or justice the game will be replayed but as I said before, Doubt It

  Duns 2-0 Saintfield   

10/01/09

This will go down as probably one of the worst performances of the season for the boys. It was cold enogh to be mistaken for the Arctic and the wind was very strong through out making it hard to judge were the ball was to land in what was to be a very typical winters day at Billy Neil. Even though in spells some of the football was fantastic it was few and far between.

A couple of early mistakes by Ward put the Duns under some early pressure by holding onto the ball for too long and losing it. The game settled a bit and the Veteran Brian 'Lawso' Law leapt highest from an inswinging free kick to nod the home side in front. Apart from the early couple of blunders, the Duns defense regrouped to take control of the game as they usually do. Marty Polly and young Ryan Smith made some intelligent and terrorizing runs to time and time again rip apart the Saintfield defence.

After doing the hard Work Watsy missed a golden opportunity to put the Duns 2 ahead blasting it wide from only yards out. The Duns went two ahead with another great individual goal from young smicker to settle the game a bit more. Young Fitz had another great opportunity which he created for himself when he hit a curler which dipped over the keeper only to be denied by the crossbar.

The 3-5-2 formation seemed to create more problems than it solved with the midfield of Scott, Mallon and Watson getting on top of each other causing some confusion in the play. The Duns went in at half time very disappointed with their performance and rightly so.

Second half seemed to prove to be no better and actually brought out the worst half of football the Duns have seen so far this season. No disrespect to Saintfield but they had nothing that should have worried the Duns but on the day I personally believe they wanted it more. The Duns seemed content to stop the football and just clear their lines in order to keep the lead which resulted in them playing very out of character.

On occasion when Scott, Mallon and Shaw linked up their was some great one touch stuff played. The same was on the right when Dalton came on as a fresh pair of legs again linking up with Mallon and Scott to play some great defense splitting stuff. Even though the football was good in parts it was too few and far between to be acceptable for a team sitting in the Duns league position as it looked out of sorts and lack luster.

McCormick came on to put himself into the mix to try pump some life into the tiring midfield. Dalton made a great opening for himself and found that hed only the keeper to beat but with no luck he found that hed blasted the ball straight at him from only yards out, unlucky Jakey must try harder. The Duns defense cleared everything insight bar one through ball which caught them cold and resulted in the Saintfield forward rolling the ball to the far post at 1 mph to, which seemed forever, secure a late rivival in hope for the saints.

The Duns saw a late substitution to inject the brilliance of the the midfield dinamo Gary 'The Special One' Niblock to boost the the Duns performance 'Never Materialised though' shock.

The Duns ground out a win in ugly fashion and even though it was probably the worst performance of the season it still produced 3 points and the 12th straight league win which is a major positive to take from an otherwise forgetful day.

Managers Man Of The Match:- Dinger