The Glens made heavy weather of what should have been a much more comfortable victory at the Oval against Dungannon Swifts in the first home League game of the season.

Unsurprisingly after last week’s opening day victory at Seaview Scott Young named an unchanged starting eleven and after an uneventful opening 10 minutes the home side started to get a stranglehold on the game.  Their dominance of the possession was rewarded on 17 minutes, although in somewhat fortunate circumstances.  A right wing cross into the Dungannon box was laid off to Jim O’Hanlon by Stephen Carson, the young midfielder’s effort on goal was going well wide but Dungannon’s Adam McMinn in attempting to block could only deflect the ball high into the net with his chest giving goalkeeper Niall Morgan no chance.

While the Glens continued to have the bulk of the possession Dungannon had their chances to level matters; Michael Funston should have done better with a mishit shot which bounced over Elliott Morris and was comfortably cleared off the line by Richard Clarke, and a few minutes later Darren Murphy’s low drive was fingertipped into the side netting by Morris.  Meanwhile at the other end Andy Waterworth’s pace was giving McMinn all sorts of problems and his 32^nd minute effort after bursting past the Dungannon centre half was well saved by the legs of Morgan.  However a couple of minutes later the Dungannon custodian almost blotted his copybook when he allowed Richard Clarke’s 20 yard effort to slip through his grasp but recovered in time to prevent the ball from crossing the line.  With the half time whistle approaching the Glens grabbed what should have been the decisive goal of the game.  Stephen Carson picked up the ball in central midfield and slid a neat ball through to Darren Boyce who had lost his marker in the Dungannon box.  With his back to goal he turned quickly and finished neatly past Morgan from 12 yards.

The home support settled into their seats after the break hoping, no doubt along with manager Scott Young, for a feast of goals in the second half.  However they were to be disappointed as the game degenerated into an insipid affair.  The Glens were giving up possession far too easily in the midfield areas and it was only Dungannon’s lack of firepower up front that was preventing them getting back into the game.  Indeed it was defender Darren Murphy who had their best chance halfway through the second period when he got on the end of a left wing cross but screwed his shot wide from six yards out.  Eventually on 84 minutes Dungannon did make the breakthrough to give the home contingent a nervy end to the game.  Referee Colin Burns awarded a bizarre free kick to Dungannon after some scrappy play on the edge of the Glentoran area.  Dermot McCaffrey touched the ball to Ryan O’Neill who drove the ball low and hard towards goal and, while Elliott Morris managed to get something on the ball, he couldn’t prevent it hitting the back of the net.

Almost from the kick off Darren Boyce almost restored the two goal advantage when he got his head to a Stephen Carson cross but Morgan did superbly to claw the ball away to safety.  In the end it was Glentoran who were happier to hear the referee’s final whistle and, while the victory meant a six points out of six start to the League campaign, all at the Oval will be looking for an improved performance for the visit of Donegal Celtic next Saturday.

Glentoran:

Elliott Morris, Johnny Taylor, Colin Nixon, Sean Ward, Jason Hill, Jim O’Hanlon (Sub Martin Murray 81 minutes), Richard Clarke (Sub John McGuigan 63 minutes), David Howland, Stephen Carson, Darren Boyce, Andy Waterworth (Sub Richard Gibson 60 minutes)

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