I popped over to Jordanstown on Saturday afternoon for back to back Elks games as the 1^st XI entertained Lurgan in the Ulster Premier League and the 2nd XI took on Railway Union in Irish Junior Cup.

The 1^st XV opened proceedings with their game against Lurgan and what a cracking match it turned out to be.

The visitors started strongly running directly at the Elks defence at every opportunity. Striker Lauren Wright was one of several of the Lurgan players that put in a lot of work in the first quarter and she was on hand to give Lurgan a 0 – 1 lead, converting a chance at the far post after 6 minutes.

Lurgan continued with their direct approach finding room through the centre and out on the left but over the remainder of the first and throughout the second quarters the Elks defence began to adapt and started to pick up breaks earlier, with Chloe Mitchell and Katie Craig playing deeper.

Craig had an particularly impressive game and as she pushed further forward in the second half she became a continual thorn in the side of the Lurgan defence who were now firmly on the back foot defending their slender lead.

We’ve grumbled about the Elks overplaying their attacks in the past but they were impressively direct in the second half winning a hat full of penalty corners. However with Lurgan’s keeper Jade Lamont having a stormer between the posts it took the Elks until the final quarter to find the back of the net, their two goals coming from penalty corners courtesy of some precise placements from FRU Fave Lucy Craig.

Mitchel was on hand to guide in the first goal for the Elks mid way through the final quarter and a delighted Shannon Atkinson got on the end of the second to secure the game in the closing minutes.

Still a bit of work to do and the direct, no nonsense, Lurgan always looked dangerous going forward but the Elks defence held firm to record a deserved 2 – 1 win.

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