Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LUKES LIKE TEAM SPIRIT
Mccullough delighted to see Glens dig in and ‘win ugly’ after recent struggles
BY
GLENTORAN defender Luke Mccullough admits his team had to show their ugly side to pocket three points at Mourneview Park.
Still wobbling from back-to-back League defeats to Crusaders and Linfield, Mick Mcdermott’s boys had to bare their teeth to stop the rot at a venue they hadn’t won at since February, 2016.
They got off to the best possible start with Mccullough (inset) gobbling up his first goal since joining the East Belfast club last season, although it was a nightmare for Glenavon goalkeeper Declan Brown, who could only parry Hrvoje Plum’s free kick on to the head of the former Doncaster Rovers man.
With their confidence still fragile, Glentoran duly conceded an equaliser with 19 minutes left, Matthew Fitzpatrick powering home a Matthew Snoddy cross with the flick of his head.
Gary Hamilton’s side then shot themselves in the foot within 60 seconds when Plum buckled under a challenge
from skipper Mark Haughey inside the box and Jay Donnelly did the needful from the spot.
“It wasn’t pretty at times, but we got the job done,” said a relieved Mccullough. “Another defeat would have been hard to take, we would have been well under the cosh.
“People were probably thinking here we go again as we were one goal up at this venue last season but lost 2-1. Thankfully, we managed to hit back straight away.
“The penalty settled us down a bit and we were able to see out the game. I thought we were totally dominant in the first half and should have been more goals in front.
“Had we made better decisions in the final third, we would have been more comfortable. It’s all about game management.
“We didn’t come out well enough in the second half and we let them get on top. We were not picking up second balls, they were sharper.
“At least we were able to bounce back. It’s a win, no matter what way it came . . . we had to do ugly stuff to get it.”
Mccullough was thrilled to at last get on the score sheet, adding: “I have been saying to the boys, it was about time I popped with one. It fell nicely.
“I don’t know whether the sun was in his (goalkeeper’s) eyes or not, but I got good contact on it. We knew that we would have to grind it out, after the couple of weeks we’ve had, we needed to bounce back.”
Gary Hamilton’s admitted his Glenavon team showed their naivety by conceding seconds after drawing level.
“Right up until we scored our equaliser, we were the dominant team,” he said. “We deservedly got back on terms, but then committed suicide within 60 seconds by conceding a penalty.
“With the experience we have in the team, we shouldn’t be conceding like that. We went through every emotion in the book inside a minute – elation to disappointment.”