Cup defeat for Belfast

[James Howl]

It would be fair to say that Belfast have been overachieving so far this season. Riding high in the premier league on the back of 5 wins and 4 draws in the opening 10 games they find themselves in 2nd place, but the focus for the season is still very much about avoiding relegation

We've had some great results, but we're aware that we've been riding our luck with regards to injuries and suspensions. With very little in the way of squad depth the season could very quickly turn sour, especially with tough matches away to Great Preston and Coogee Convicts coming up.

On Wednesday we faced Red Star Llama in the cup. Llamas have had a tough start to the season, but there's no denying that last season's Premier league champions have plenty of quality in their side, so we knew it would be a tough game.

It started well, with Antman finding the back of the net after only 5 minutes to put Belfast into the lead. That goal brought his tally to 5 for the season.

Belfast had the chance to extend their lead, but J_Torre made up for his early lapse and pulled off a string of saves to keep his team in the game.

Llamas switched style in the 30th minute and found their rhythm quickly with S_Schmidt bagging the equalizer just before half time.

Both teams had plenty of chances in the second half, but neither could find the winning goal and the match went to extra time.

That's when things started to go wrong for Belfast. R_Liephardt picked up 2 yellow cards in the space of 6 minutes and got himself sent off.

Llamas made their extra man count and scored immediately, trigging Belfast to switch to a more attacking style to try to force their way back into the match, but they left themselves wide open at the back and conceded a further 2 goals to cap off a miserable defeat and crash out of the cup.