RAPHOE suffered defeat against Queen’s on Saturday in the Ulster Premier League on a day when the Donegal club paid tribute to the late Richard Eaton.
Raphoe 0 Queen’s 2
Last September, Richard, who was the coach and chairman passed away and this was their first home outing since. Both teams gave one minute’s applause before the game in his memory.
Having narrowly missed out on points last weekend against NorthDown, away in Comber, Raphoe hoped to start their run of four Premier League home games in a row, and a first in front of the home crowd, with a few much needed points but it wasn’t to be as they conceded twice in the final quarter ending in a 0-2 defeat.
Both teams were evenly matched in the first quarter, Queens being denied twice by the helmet of David Moore in the Raphoe goal before George Patterson later found himself through on goal at the other end, thanks to smart play by Simon Goudie, Patterson was to be denied by, Shepard, the queens stopper.
The counter attack seemed the only option for Raphoe as Queens pushed high up the pitch but Raphoe’s defence held strong for the first quarter ending 0-0.
Raphoe coach Johnny Long made a couple of small tweaks at the interval and Raphoe grew into the game, Sam McKnight, who made his debut the previous week, this time coming close after good work from Patterson, Devenney and Meehan in midfield but again denied by keeper, Shepard.
Raphoe managed a few short corner routines towards the end of the second quarter, Lee Stewert, Matthew Lecky and Simon Goudie coming close but the Queens rearguard stood strong.
The third quarter was evenly matched, Lecky moving into centre midfield with Jake Watt,but neither team were able to create many chances, Raphoe with their familiar back four of Eaton, Lyttle, Goudie and Meehan, took care of any attacking threat from the young Queens team.
Goals finally came in the fourth quarter from two short corner routines, on both occasions David Moore saving the initial shots well but Queens forward David Campbell pounced twice on the rebounds to leave Raphoe still seeking their first points after two games.
Next up for Raphoe are Civil Service at home next weekend.
