Switch to full-time football starting to pay off, says Lowry
CRUSADERS goalscoring hero Philip Lowry says that the Seaview side’s move to full-time football is beginning to pay off already after their late, late win away to Warrenpoint Town on Saturday.
Lowry got a touch to Ross Clarke’s corner deep into stoppage time to give Stephen Baxter’s defending champions a hard-fought three points against a much-improved home side who have yet to get off the mark this season.
That winner came just a few minutes after Marc Griffin had seen his penalty saved by Sean O’Neill, Had it gone in, Stephen McDonnell’s home side would have gone 2-1 in front after Jordan Owens had levelled following debutant Maxim Kouogun’s opener.
“To score a winner is always nice, but to get one in injury time is very sweet,” admitted Lowry.
“It doesn’t matter who scores and we got out of jail to be honest. Warrenpoint were excellent.
“Everyone knows that we have quality all over the pitch, but it’s no good having a large squad if players aren’t giving the manager a selection headache.
“Obviously we’re doing extra sessions. It’s going to take time, but everyone is buying into it and we’re enjoying the sessions. The physical work has definitely been upped this year and it’s paying dividends.
He added: “We looked strong going into the last couple of minutes and we were still going forward.”
“Linfield’s fitness, by all accounts last week, was right up there with us, so that’s probably reminded the manager that we need to be on our game every week and we need to be at 100 miles an hour.
“Because, if you’re off the pace at all, no matter who you’re playing in this league, you can struggle as we saw here today.” WARRENPOINT: Turker, Hughes, Reilly, Kelly, Griffin (Moan, 89 mins), O’Sullivan, McCaffrey (Foster, 78 mins), Kouogun, Scannell (Donnelly, 76 mins), O’Connor, Norton. Unused subs: Parr, McGrandles, Lynch, Houston.
CRUSADERS: O’Neill, Burns, McChrystal, Beverland, Caddell, Forsythe (Cushley, 84 mins), Ruddy, J Owens, Snoddy (Lowry, 57 mins), Heatley, Patterson (Clarke, 63 mins). Unused subs: Doherty, Glackin, Carvill, K Owens.
Referee: Tim Marshall (Irvinestown)
Man of the match: Maxim Kouogun
Match rating: 7/10