Renwick Fought the Law, and the Law Won

Renwick’s league campaign finished with a disappointing defeat to a strong Law Society. For the eighth occassion this season Renwick scored first and still failed to take home the three points. Mark Porter made his first start of the season whilst Cromie Joel returned in the centre of midfield. With both sides only realising the clash of kits after arriving at Cherryvale, Renwick swapped with World XI and ironically ended up wearing some shirts that had been Renwick’s kit once upon a time. Renwick scored early on when Smith and Porter combined to put the ball past the Lawyer’s keeper from a Ben Hanna freekick. A one-on-one stop was required shortly afterwards to keep Renwick in the lead. The pedantic and overweight ref (Law’s one) sought to penalise foul throws and call offsides from the centre circle, making the opening stages very disjointed. He relished the opportunity to give Law a controversial penalty after Carson handled the ball outside a couple of yards outside the box. The penalty was dispatched into the bottom corner and the dominance of Law’s Ambrosini in the middle of the park left Renwick playing an uncharacteristic long ball game. Law Society scored two more in quick succession leaving their opponents with a mountain to climb. The second half saw a much better Renwick performance which could have made the match into a closer contest if it had not been for multiple players squandering opportunities. For the second week in succession Porter forced a noteworthy save from the opponents keeper but the second half remained scoreless. McCullough admitted afterwards that perhaps three in the middle might have enabled Renwick to cope better with Law’s talented midfield. Andrew McKelvey’s absence was keenly felt although Renwick will have to learn to cope without his physical presence as he’ll be saving lives on a full-time basis next year. Aicken was another notable absentee who, despite passing the potato bag carrying test, had to withdraw during the warm-up.

Man of the Match

Special mentions for Porter, Peoples, Hawthorne and Richard McKelvey. Luke Campbell edged this week’s Man of the Match by preventing Law scoring a fourth and supporting the play well during the second half.

Chris trying to impersonate Ali’s funny poses at leftback

Ben needs a hug

And so did Cromie J after a horrific tackle

Ben puts the cross in from the resulting freekick

And celebrates his assist

McCullough pulls off a one-on-one save

It wasn’t really like watching Brazil at all

Chris fixes his hair

Thankfully the ball missed the carefully positioned hairstyle

Law equalise from the spot

Renwick’s Asian Player of the Year

Law’s keeper coped well at set pieces

Peter and Luke try to inspire the team at half time but to no avail as Renwick could not manage a comeback

 

Renwick Dinner Info

Meet at Barnabys at 7:30pm sharp. It takes just under half an hour from Belfast so you’ll need to be leaving at 7pm.

Directions:

Travel North on the M2

Exit Junction 4

At Roundabout take 4th Exit on A8 heading towards Larne

At next roundabout take the 1st Exit onto Ballyclare Road

Travel 2.5 miles along that road, Barnabys is on the otherside of Ballyrobert