Sacre Coeur 3 vs 2 Cardinal Newman

There was an air of déjà vu about Newman's second game of the season, as they once again took to the pitch against Sacre Coeur. Unfortunately, that familiar feeling soon evaporated as a solid opening day draw made way for a disappointing defeat up in Fazakerley. The boys in blue proved that last week was more of a sharpening exercise for them, and although they were lucky to escape from Sudley with a point, here they were deserving winners.

After going 2-0 up early on, Coeur's advantage was halved by the break as Sam Buckley dispatched a penalty. In the second half Newman went out in search of an equaliser, but the two-goal cushion was soon restored. Lee Atkinson grabbed a late consolation, but the damage had already been done. Newman didn't display the quality of passing and creativity that had been nicely building over the pre-season, with Ross Tierney quick to point out where things went wrong:

"We didn't use each other as much as we have done in previous games. Forced it a bit too much, probably because we were constantly goals down."

Sacre Coeur will certainly be challenging near the top this season, but Newman will also feel that they can join them up there.

Collegiate are up next as they make the trip to Sudley this Saturday, where the Clarets will look to hand out a third defeat in three matches to the visitors.