Rock's momentum halted by basement club Torro
MDL PREMIER DIVISION TORRO UTD.............................1 ROCK CELTIC..............................1
Wednesday March 17 2010
BASEMENT side, Torro Utd, brought Rock Celtic back down to earth with a bang on Sunday morning to put a severe dent in the seasiders' title bid.
After defeating one of their main rivals, Woodview Celtic on Thursday night, Rock handed the initiative back to last year's runners-up with a dis-jointed display and needed a late equaliser from substitute, David Ward, to rescue a point from a drab affair.
With Torro languishing at the foot of the table, a point was of no great use to either side, but it was the Meath outfit who created the better chances throughout the 90 minutes and deservedly took the lead on the hour with a well-placed finish from their central midfielder.
The same player opened the scoring at Sandy Lane recently before Rock strormed back to hit five second-half goals, but on this occasion, Shane Reddish's side could only conjure the one, as Ward drove a left-footed volley to the far corner with 15 minutes left on the clock.
The striker was unable to start after picking up an injury against Woodview and Rock missed the former Dundalk striker, along with his brother, Chris, who also started on the bench.
The visitors never really got their passing game going on a difficult surface, but could well have escaped with all three points when loud claims for a late penalty were waved away by the referee.
The match official also turned down strong appeals for a Rock goal in the opening half when a Derek Delany effort appeared to cross the line.
Overall, though, deserved a draw. ROCK CELTIC: Damien McCrink; David Hoey, Sean Watters, David McGeough, Jamie Lally; Chris Connolly, Paul Gore (Paddy Quinn), Seamus McCabe (Chris Ward), David Fairclough; Des McKeown (David Ward), Derek Delany.
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