BROTHER IN ARMS NEIL

NEWRY CITY are focused on a push for the Championship title after Saturday’s dramatic victory over Ballyclare Comrades, according to defender Neil Mullen.

Mullen – brother of manager Darren – equalised in the final minute of normal time before Keith Johnston netted the winner in added time.

“It was great to play at Linfield [in the Irish Cup] and the Mid

Ulster Cup final against Glenavon, but the league is our bread and butter and now that’s our focus,” Mullen explained.

“We were unfortunate in both those games and we were underdogs.

“But once you lose both and then you’re trailing Ballyclare, maybe you begin to worry a little that the momentum has turned.

“We drew with Institute recently and they celebrated it like a win after having a man sent off and we missed a penalty, which gave us real confidence we should aim to push on even more. We only won one of our first six but then we hit our stride and only lost one league game in over four months.”

It was a first league goal for the 33-year-old – who has started only four games in the Championship – this season, after he was utilised as an emergency striker.

“I hadn’t realised just how late in the game it was, but it’s always a special feeling to get a goal and then to go on and win it in such dramatic fashion. I’m naturally a defender but was thrown up front as a bit of an emergency, so to be able to make an impact was fantastic.

“There was a

Ballyclare fan who had been shouting at me earlier in the game that I must be a ball-boy and not a