Glenavon 2-0 Portadown- Ahh, jeasus, where to start here... I'll let Ian do the talking:
An 8-a-side encounter on the astro based beach at Brownlow saw Glenavon come from a goal down to seal the pride in the Mid Ulster derby.
Glenavon's starting line-up saw several new faces with Skin, Wills and Bluebob all making their competitive debuts. 5 regulars that are Ian, Andy, Mike, Gareth and Ryan make up the side, with Ian captaining for the first time. Another new face David Watterson began as a sub.
Portadown had most of their regulars available apart from Red Menace, who shouted the orders from the touch line.
After a nervy start, Glenavon settled their ways but came undersome intense pressure. Portadown were playing some good football, but for a mixture of poor finishing and good goalkeeping by Gareth couldn't find the opening goal.
After 28 minutes some good work down the right saw the Ports take the lead. Poor marking in the box and a good cross resulted in an excellent finish.
Glenavon soon got the ball on the ground and began to play some good stuff. While Portadown did the same they couldn't do the business in the final third as they searched for the second goal.
Glenavon soon found themselves back in the game with 17 minutes to go, when good work down the left by Andy Wightman saw his shot hit the post only for the on rushing Stan Smith to cooly side the ball past his own keeper into the bottom corner of the net. 1-1
With 10m minutes left to go Glenavon searched for the winner. With 10 minutes left on the clock a golakeeping howler let Andy Wightman in to simply knock the ball into the empth net. Questions were raised by the men in red, but they were just bitter.
Portadown piled on the pressure in the last 10 minutes but some poor finishing and some good defending prevented them from getting the equaliser.
Afterwards, Glenavon duely celebrated their win at Brownlow, the first since the team was set up. In the reception area of the leisure centre, first time captain Ian Wilson accepted the Gold Yorkie Bar trophy, which he recieved from the nearby Tayto vending machine.
Team: Gareth McCarter, Mike Wightman, Ian Wilson (c), Michael Scott, David Watterson, Ryan McCarter, Andy Wills, Ian McKinney, Andy Wightman.
Goals: Stan Smith(o.g.), Andy Wightman
(As told by Ian Wilson) |
