KILLYMOON Rangers entertained Queens University in the WKD Intermediate Cup last Saturday with manager Don Smyth giving a first start to both Aaron McPartland and Adam Machulec.
The first half was quite even in terms of possession, but Killymoon c
reated the best goal-scoring opportunities with the first falling to Andy Neill who had an effort cleared off the line after 10 minutes.
Straight from the Killymoon attack however, Queens countered and their forward should have done better when he got on the end of a cross, but he screwed his effort wide.
Ali Young and Conall Kilpatrick both had efforts before Stephen McElhatton crashed a free-kick off the visitors' post, with their keeper routed to the spot.
Queens had another half-chance flash across the Killymoon goal before James Ferguson got on the end of a cross from Stuart Glasgow, but his effort produced an excellent save from the Queens keeper.
Queens should have taken the lead within a minute of the re-start, but despite their forward having only Gareth McElhatton to beat he shot well wide of the goal.
This was a let-off for Killymoon however, it was the visitors' who opened the scoring on the hour mark from a simple move. A long throw into the penalty area was met by a Queens player who flicked the ball into the net as the home defence stood still.
The visitors upped the pace in the second half and G McElhatton had to make a number of saves to keep Killymoon in the game and in the final 15 minutes the Cookstown side did have a number of excellent opportunities to take the game into extra time.
The first fell to sub Marc Stewart, who was slipped in by Willie Watson, but the normally lethal striker shot wide. In the final couple of minutes the impressive A Young got on the end of Glasgow's cross but his header went narrowly over the crossbar and Glasgow's shot from 25 yards just went wide.
Unfortunately that was the last chance for Killymoon as Queens held on to progress to the next round.
Killymoon: G McElhatton, S McElhatton, C Kilpatrick, A McPartland, A Neill, S Glasgow, J Young, W Smith, A Young, A Machulec, J Ferguson. Subs: W Watson, M Stewart, S Young
