Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
VERTUOSO DISPLAY
Eetu’s Finn the mood with a four-goal haul
FOUR ice-cool Finnish finishes from Eetu Vertainen helped Linfield swat Dungannon Swifts aside at Windsor Park yesterday.
The quality of forward play would have done boss David Healy proud in his heyday as his strikers despatched the ball into the net with ruthless efficiency to prove the champions won’t allow themselves to be ruffled in this tense title race.
Vertainen had a claim for a penalty early on, the on-loan St Johnstone star going to ground after a tangle with former Rangers defender Bilel Mohsni but referee Chris Morrison wasn’t interested.
The Finn was incensed but channelled his anger brilliantly to give the Blues a 12th minute lead (inset).
Chris McKee reversed a lovely pass through to his strike partner, who sat Mohsni down with a quick swivel of his hips before calmly curling the ball past keeper Dwayne Nelson.
The 22-year-old’s admirable composure was on display again in the 28th minute as he made it 2-0, racing clear down the right from Kirk Millar’s astute pass before psyching out Nelson to roll the ball into the net from the tightest of angles.
Six minutes later and it was McKee’s turn to demonstrate a cool head as he scampered onto Vertainen’s pass, emerged from a one-on-one with Nelson in possession of the ball and then slotted it through the legs of the hapless Mohsni for the third goal.
The visitors managed their first shot on target on the stroke of halftime but skipper James Knowles failed to trouble keeper Chris Johns and the question at the break was just how many the champions would win by. Millar tried to follow his strikers’ lead four minutes into the second half, taking his time as he jinked past a couple of desperate lunges only to get the last bit wrong by slicing a left-foot shot horribly wide. At the other end, Rhyss Campbell sought to give the Swifts a flicker of hope with a fine curled effort from the edge of the box but the ball drifted just over the bar.
The inevitable hat-trick arrived for Vertainen in the 68th minute and once again it was an exquisitely taken goal.
Springing the Swifts’ dodgy offside trap, the tall Finn danced past Cahal McGinty with a lovely bit of footwork to clip the ball past Nelson with consummate ease.
Four minutes later, he had his fourth, and this one was bordering on cheeky as he nutmegged Nelson with a first-time finish from Millar’s cross before being hauled ashore for Marty Donnelly, receiving a rapturous reception as he departed the scene of his crimes.