North End v Bohemians (LSC)

Good contest ruined by what looked like a very harsh red card for NE’s Reece Murphy on 65 minutes as it enabled Bohs to saunter home as NE struggled to keep Bohs out given the player disadvantage. Bohs were on a different planet in terms of pace and fitness from the start as they dominated from the beginning. Two Bohs players beat the offside early on but couldn’t finish and then a Bohs shot was deflected for a corner. Bohs went a goal to the good on 16 minutes when a cross to the far post was tapped home. The game, however, was transformed on 31 minutes when, out of the blue, NE equalised after some sloppy play by Bohs allowed Rhodes to bury a shot into the bottom corner that the Bohs keeper might have kept out. NE followed this up with a free into the Bohs area that led to an almighty scramble and during which NE were unlucky not to go ahead. Two good saves by the NE keeper just before the end of the first half allowed NE to go to the dressing-rooms at the break at a goal apiece.

The second half continued with Bohs dominating possession but continued good shape from NE coupled with fantastic defending by the NE centre-halves of Delaney, Murphy and Porter managed to keep Bohs at bay. However, Bohs took the lead again on twelve minutes when a move to the NE end-line allowed a Bohs attacker to tap home. Gary Delaney then had a header blocked on the Bohs goal-line from a NE corner. The game was killed as a spectacle with 20 minutes gone in the second period when Reece Murphy was given a straight red although he appeared to make a tackle cleanly. The resulting Bohs free-kick was hit straight into the NE wall. Another Bohs move that a got a player to the end-line and created another tap-in made in 3-1 to Bohs. A failure to give NE a penalty when Adam Beary was fairly clearly dragged down in the act of shooting from close-in placed a further question-mark on the capabilities of the officials. Two late Bohs goals made it 5-1 at the end but NE had given a very good account of themselves up to the award of the red card.