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The Bulls' U18's defeated their Pegasus rivals by three goals to one in tonight’s fixture at Edgar Street.
Pegasus took the lead on twenty minutes but the hosts came back to win with a first half equaliser from Louis Feeley who went on to complete his hat-trick after the break.
Peggy forced an early corner and Josh Tomkins’ flag kick was headed over by Joel Beeston. Tomkins then turned his marker to create space but blazed his shot high and wide. A Pegasus free kick from the halfway line was miss-judged by keeper Kyle Moore and from the scramble, Elliot Payne bundled the ball over the line to give the visitors a twenty-minute lead.
The Bulls responded with some crisp movement forcing a series of corners to enable Murphy to demonstrate his accurate delivery but nothing came of the chances. Joe Tumelty got on the end of one half clearance but his shot from twenty yards was just wide of the target. Then just before the break a long ball from the back caught out the Peggy defence as Feeley beat the high line and raced away to drill past Alex Boyce to level the score. There were calls for offside but it was clear that although in an offside position when he received the ball his run had been made from an onside position when the ball was played.
HT Bulls 1 Pegasus 1
Peggy, again, produced the first chance after the break when Henry Walsh turned the ball inside for Luke Edmonds but his shot was well over the bar. The visitors then fashioned another opportunity when The Bulls central defenders got turned too easily and presented another chance which was dragged wide before The Bulls took the lead.
A corner on the left was once gain delivered with precise accuracy this time dipping under the bar for Feeley to grab his second. Shortly after, the third goal came from the penalty spot. The industrious Jarod Bowen was unfairly challenged in the box and Feeley slotted home from twelve yards to complete the scoring.
Payne came close the reducing the deficit late on but The Bulls created the last opportunity when Feeley's low cross only failed to reach Bowen in the six-yard box due to a splendid interception by Beeston.
FT Bulls 3 Pegasus 1
Bulls: Moore, Lewis, Saunders, Perkins, Brennan, John, Feeley, Murphy, Bowen, Tumelty, Brock. Subs Miller, Burgess, Robinson, Haines, Kontic.
Pegasus: Boyce, James, Brymer, Dovey, Beeston, Edmonds, Wilkes, Hawkins, Walsh, Payne, Tomkins. Subs Freeman, Bunclark, Lear, Spink, Rogers.
The latter period proved to be the downfall of Pegasus as The Bulls superior fitness and stamina showed. Peggy had enough chances to have levelled the score but were let down by some erratic finishing.
John Layton and Dan Connor said after the game that they were pleased with the result but far from happy with the performance overall and were looking for improvements in the coming weeks. There were several occasions when defenders were caught on the turn and there were times when there seemed a lack of urgency to turn defence into attack but The Bulls now go forward to the next round at home in two weeks.
3-1 on Saturday by the first team will be just fine.
