Nine-man Town maintain their 100 per cent record

Mountfield 1 Enniskillen Town 3

NINE-MAN Enniskillen Town maintained their 100 per cent start to the season as they secured a 3-1 win away to Mountfield on Saturday.

Leading 2-0 thanks to a Cathal Beacom penalty and an own goal, Town appeared to be well on their way to the points but they lost Ryan Mccluskey to a straight red card ten minutes from the break and then Matthew Dixon followed early in the second half.

However, a Frank Wallace goal put Town three up and they defended resolutely over the closing half an hour to pick up the points on offer.

“It was backs to the wall over the last 30 minutes or so but we defended well and the main thing was to get the three points,” said joint manager James Mckenna.

However, he was disappointed with the lack of discipline shown as his side played the majority of the second half with nine players.

“We allowed ourselves to get dragged into the type of game that Mountfield wanted to play and we shouldn’t have reacted. We were disappointed with the lack of discipline,” he added.

And he says that suspensions will now leave them even more depleted for visit of Dergview Reserves this week.

“Dergview are a good side so it will be tough and we are down to bare bones and that is another two missing which doesn’t help but we have to get on with it and we will be getting stronger now over the next few weeks as teams exit the championship,” he said.

Town played with a strong breeze at their backs in the first half and went on to dominate possession before taking the lead.

Thomas Owens was upended in the box and Beacom stepped up to convert the resultant penalty to put the away side in front.

And with half an hour gone, they doubled their lead as Hoy’s cross picked out Wallace and just as he was about to slot home a defender turned the ball into his own net.

It was all going according to plan for Town at this stage but tempers started to fray after a poor tackle on Mckenna and Mccluskey was given his marching orders following a bad challenge soon after.

Town regrouped at the break, introducing Dixon to give them an extra body in the middle of the park, but he only lasted five minutes before being dismissed for an off the ball altercation.

However, moments later Town made it 3-0 as Beacom played a ball over the top and Wallace raced clear to slot home.

Playing into the stiff breeze and down to nine men though it was a rearguard action for the visitors for the remainder of the contest.

Mountfield did manage to pull a goal back but Town saw out the remainder of the contest to seal a hard earned win.