Villagers seize their chance to make up vital ground on rivals
LOUGHGALL made the most of an unusual situation to shoot themselves right back into the promotion mix in the Bluefin Sport Championship.
After leaders Portadown lost 2-0 to Ballyclare Comrades on Friday night and with Ballinamallard United in Irish Cup quarter-final action, Dean Smith’s men took advantage of being the only team in the top three in action on Saturday and moved above the Mallards into second place in the table, seven points behind the Ports with a game in hand.
A first-half goal from Jordan Gibson put Loughgall in front and, after Sean McCarron had drawn Dergview level, Dale Malone struck the winner to stretch the Villagers’ unbeaten run to seven games, having not lost since a defeat to Portadown on Boxing Day.
Newry City’s hopes of breaking into the top two were, however, dealt a blow when they drew a blank in a 0-0 draw with Dundela.
That allowed Ards to move above the border club into fourth place with a 2-1 away win at Queen’s University.
Eamon McAllister struck twice early in the second half for Ards and Ciaran O’Hare’s strike for the Students was merely a consolation, giving John Bailie’s improving team a fourth win in five games during an unbeaten February.
Knockbreda gave themselves some serious hope in the fight against relegation when they battled back from 2-1 down to win 4-2 at home to fellow strugglers PSNI.
Goals from Aaron Cochrane and Tony Tumelty had the police in front, but Breda turned the game around with Jonathan Smith — who scored twice, including once from the penalty spot — Fra Rice and Kian Storey on target and there is now just a single point covering Dergview, PSNI and Knockbreda at the foot of the table as the final weeks of the campaign loom.
Ballyclare shocked Portadown with two early strikes to take the points at Shamrock Park on Friday night.
Adam Gray gave the east Antrim outfit a dream start when he opened the scoring in the first minute and the table-topping Ports simply couldn’t respond after Nathan O’Neill netted the second after a quarter of an hour to give Comrades a much welcome first win since the end of January.
RESULTS:
Dundela 0 Newry City 0; Knockbreda 4 PSNI 2; Loughgall 2 Dergview 1; Portadown 0 Ballyclare Comrades 2; Queen’s University 1 Ards 2.
GLENTORAN: Morris, Garrett, Kane, Peers, Gallagher, McDaid, McClean, Nasseri, Crowe (Cowan, 90 mins), O’Neill (Van Overbeek, 61 mins), Donnelly. Unused subs: Frazer, Pepper, Antolovic, O’Connor, Gordon.
CRUSADERS: Doherty, Burns, McGonigle, Cushley, Forsythe, O’Rourke, Owens, Brown, Thompson (Lowry, 73 mins), Heatley, Dummigan (McElroy, 89 mins). Unused subs: O’Neill, Hegarty, Hale, Caddell, McGinley.
Referee: Andrew Davey (Bangor)
Man of the match: Patrick McClean
Match rating: 7/10
ROBBIE McDaid held his nerve to shoot Glentoran into the semi-finals of the Sadler’s Peaky Blinder Irish Cup on Saturday, but it was merely a sideshow after what took place on the final whistle!
A typical good old-fashioned cup showdown descended into mayhem and madness with a flurry of red cards — three in total as Crusaders pair Jordan Forsythe and Gerard Doherty took the walk of shame along with manager Stephen Baxter.
The game, played in horrible windy conditions, appeared to be heading to extra-time when it exploded for all the wrong reasons.
Earlier, Jamie McGonigle shot the Crues into a first half lead — an advantage they held until 67 minutes when skipper Marcus Kane drilled a low shot past Doherty to level matters.
But things sour three minutes from time when referee Andrew Davey took advice from his fourth official, Raymond Crangle, to award Glentoran a penalty kick after Jarlath O’Rourke stuck out a hand to deflect a cross from McDaid (right).
The striker was forced to wait until the Crues’ protests subsided before he smashed the ball under the body of the diving Doherty.
Sadly, things deteriorated after that.
Forsythe lost his cool and pushed a ball boy when attempting to take a quick throw-in, earning himself a straight red card in the process.
Then, amid Glentoran celebrations on the final whistle, Doherty had a bottle fired in his direction from the Sydenham end of the ground and was sent off for returning it in the direction of home fans, while Baxter was dismissed for comments made to the under-fire Davey.
Both clubs could pay a hefty price when the IFA disciplinary committee sit down to assess the damage. And, alarmingly, it all took place on the day Fifa president Gianni Infantino was in attendance!
The Glens will face Cliftonville in the semi-finals later this month, while Baxter’s boys face the prospect of ending the campaign without a trophy — and the possibility of missing out on European football.
They trail Danske Bank Premiership leaders Linfield by a whopping 11 points with only nine games remaining.
“There is no doubt the penalty decision was the big talking point,” moaned Baxter (right), when he emerged from the sanctuary of the dressing room.
“I couldn’t tell whether it was a penalty or not from the naked eye.