Albion’s patience rewarded
ALBION ROVERS PARKVILLA 3 1
DIVISION 2 promotion hopefuls Albion Rovers picked up their fourth win from five starts when overcoming a dogged Parkvilla side on Thursday night last.
The Monasterboice outfit were on the front foot from the kick-off and took the lead after five minutes when a Helder Goncalves corner was half-cleared and Andy Morgan reacted quickest to finish neatly to the bottom corner from 18 yards.
Albion’s defensive pairing of Neil McEvoy and Blake Rowan never put a foot wrong all night, easily dealing with everything Parkvilla threw at them, and the visitors created very few clear-cut chances in the first half.
On 30 minutes great work down the left from Goncalves and James Walsh ended with a ball being whipped in at pace and in struck an outstretched Parkvilla arm - penalty. Up stepped Evan Corlett to make it 2-0.
Parkvilla started the second half much the stronger team, pushing Albion back to the edge of their area, and they got a goal to reward them for their efforts on 55 minutes, leaving the outcome on a knife-edge.
The hosts’ response was to make a couple of changes and the move worked as they moved much higher up the pitch and began to create chances again.
For the last half-hour Stephen Martin and Dylan Kirwan dominated proceedings in the middle of the park and they guided Albion to another valuable win in the end.
The insurance goal came late in the game but was welcome nonetheless as Goncalves reacted quickest to a breaking ball on the edge of the area to finish past the Parkvilla netminder.
Best for the winners were Goncalves, Rowan, McEvoy and Man of the Match Kirwan.
ALBION ROVERS: T Kavanagh, K Harding, J Walsh, B Rowan, N McEvoy, S Martin, S Kelly, D Kirwan, E Corlett, A Morgan, H Goncalves. Subs: A Swift, A Byrne, K Kelly, G Maher, D Smith, S Doherty.