The home side had taken the lead with a penalty but Academy - fielding two youngsters making their senior debuts, Troy Wilson and Ross Bryans - never really looked back after that reverse and turned things round with a pushover scrum and an easy touchdown for Keith Dobbin. Both sides exchanged penalties as Academy kept their narrow lead 8-6. Academy started brightly in the second period and their stronger scrum set the platform for out-half Simon Patterson to create confusion in the home defence with a ‘show-and-go’ and under the posts to make it 15-6. The extras were added by Dave Kenny. Penalties traded back and forth had the score at 21-9 for a while with Academy seemingly home and dry. But with prop Chris Nash in the bin for the visitors, the home side managed a seven-pointer of their own after a series of pick-and-go attacks close to the line with two mintues left. In the final exchanges Academy again put pressure on the home scrum and this led to some frantic passing by Lisburn trying to get out of their ‘22’ for a winning breakaway score. Nash made amends for his earlier yellow by countering a ruck on the home five-metre line, picking up and bundling over to take away a losing bonus from Lisburn.
