Wanderers move five clear at the top

Irvinestown Wanderers 4 Orchard Farm 2

IRVINESTOWN Wanderers went five points clear at the top of Division Two with a 4-2 win over Orchard Farm at the Bawnacre Centre.

A brace from forward Caolan Ward in the final 20 minutes guided the home side to victory after Sean Quigley had bagged an equaliser from the penalty spot.

Wanderers’ Manager Darren Higginbotham said after the game: “Naturally, I’m delighted to get three very important points.

“Orchard Farm didn’t make things simple for us and the conditions didn’t help either, but we tried to play football as best we could on a difficult day, and we created some chances and scored some good goals.

‘A difficult game’

“At this stage of the season it’s all about three points and now with a free week this weekend, we will prepare for Fintona the following week in what will be a very difficult game for us.”

Sean Clear opened the scoring in the 11th minute as Daniel Noble laid off a pass for Clear who, on the edge of the box, struck the ball with his left foot into the bottom right corner for an early 1-0 lead.

However, the Orchard Farm response was instant, Simon Douglas pouncing to make it 1-1 with only 12 minutes played.

After an even half with limited chances, Irvinestown regained the lead when forward Joey Millar was hauled down at the back post and a penalty was awarded.

Gary Maguire stepped up to dispatch the ball into the top right corner to hand the away side a sucker punch just before half time.

Orchard Farm pushed men forward in search of a second equaliser in the second half and they found it as they got a penalty of their own with just over 20 minutes to play. Sean Quigley found the back of the net to make it 2-2.

The Farm joy didn’t last long after another immediate response, this time in favour of Irvinestown.

A ball into the box by Jordan Palmer was headed down by Noble and dropped at the back post for Caolan Ward to tap the hosts back into the lead.

Wanderers were able to push on and find a fourth to give themselves a comfortable final ten minutes when an attacking interchange came to Ward in the box, and he found the bottom corner of the net on his right foot to seal the win.

Orchard Farm will play Enniskillen Galaxy away from home this weekend; meanwhile, Irvinestown have no fixture.