Beragh Swifts 1 Kesh 4
Ryan Campbell bagged his first league hat-trick of the season as Kesh bounced back from their first defeat of the campaign with a convincing 4-1 victory away at Beragh Swifts.
Kesh came into the game on the back of a 3-1 defeat to Enniskillen Town, and the players responded to the manager’s demands that they make an immediate return to winning ways.
“Before the game, I told them we wanted a response,” he said. “I don’t think we played too bad against Town, but the goals could have been prevented and I wanted them to be more solid.
"Thankfully the boys stepped up to the mark. It wasn’t pretty at the start of the second half, but they managed to turn it around which was good to see.
"You could see from our reaction at the end of the game how much it meant. You can see there is fight in them, and it was pleasing to get the three points and get up and running again.”
Goals from Campbell and Swifts’ Josh Short left the game tied at one apiece at halftime, but Kesh scored three in the final fifteen minutes with Campbell completing his treble and Sam Robb also getting on the scoresheet.
“We changed our formation on Saturday, and I thought it was working well in the first half,” said Campbell.
“We were comfortable enough and we should have been two or three nil up instead of just one.
"We restricted them to a couple of corners and maybe one shot up until the last ten minutes of the first half, and then we started to dip off.
"They got into the game and made a couple of chances and got their equaliser. We started the second half the same way we ended the first half.
"Beragh were well on top and pushing. I changed the formation back to what we were used to and made a couple of subs, and it seemed to settle us and we kicked on.
"We made it 2-1 and then got another couple of quick goals after that and that killed them completely.”
Kesh took the lead after 14 minutes when Lee Walker’s free-kick set Campbell clear down the wing, and he cut inside the defender and fired a low shot across the keeper into the far corner of the net.
Kesh continued to pose a threat to the Beragh goal, but they could not find a second goal and as halftime approached the home team drew level when Stephen Browne robbed Nigel Beacom of possession as he tried to shield the ball out of play.
Jordan Flack then attempted to clear, but a deflection took the ball across goal and Short scored at the back post.
The result remained in the balance until fifteen minutes from time when Ryan Beatty rolled a defender and cut the ball back from the byline for Campbell to score.
Four minutes later they scored a third when Campbell found Robb and he drilled a low shot into the corner.
Campbell completed his hat-trick ten minutes from full time when he intercepted a pass deep in Beragh’s half and fired an early shot past the keeper.
The win lifts Kesh to within three points of the league leaders with a game in hand.
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