A cold night at Drumbo Football Club played host to Glentorans 5th League fixture
of the season against high flying Lisburn Distillery,

who had won 4
of their previous 5 and also beaten Portadown, the only team to have taken
points off the wee Glens so far.  The starting team was unchanged from
Saturdays fantastic display which saw the boys run out a rampant 4-0 victory
over League leaders Hillsborough Boys.  Right from the off the boys took the
game to the whites pinning them back for nearly the entire half in the final
third of the pitch and with 3 minutes gone leading goal scorer Ryan Tweedie
manoeuvred space for himself in the box and beat the Distillery keeper with
a fine strike, 1-0 Glens.  The onslaught continued and only for the whites
keeper being in superb form the Glens would have added to the early lead on
numerous occasions in the early stages.  Distillery with 15 minutes gone
still hadn't made one notable attack and the Glens had done everything but
find the back of the net raining down chances in the distillery box.  No
longer had the words been faintly muttered " Their gonna catch us with a
sucker one if we dont start taking these chances" from the 2001 faithful
somewhere along the line, when a long punt over the top from the whites
caught our two centre backs cold and with both boys missing the ball it
slide through for the whites forward to find probably his first touch of the
game in a one on one with Reece Caldwell, Bang 1-1 with a great finish from
the young lad.  The goal didn't change the Glens approach and within minutes
of the equaliser young Tweedie, who has a knack of popping up at the right
time at the right place, worked his magic again to get on the end of a cross
and Give the Glens back the lead they deserved 2-1.  Distillery were still
finding it tough to beat the Glentoran rear guard of Bell, Craig,
Crookshanks and Mcafee especially with Ethan Carry sitting in front and
winning every ball that came his way, but another long punt again caught
everyone cold and the whites were on the attack for only the second time in
25 minutes of football.  Bradley McAfee closed the striker down fastest and
was only a foot away from him when the whites forward blasted the ball off
Mcafee and seemingly going out for a corner the line where incensed when the
ref pointed to the spot for a penalty for an apparent hand ball , very soft
indeed and hard on the Glens who were in total control of the game.  Up
stepped the whites, bang 2-2.  The Glens got up dusted themselves off and
with McGookin switching superb balls through to the wingers Sloan and
Walker, who were destroying their counter parts on the flanks , an eventual
quality cross from Ben Walker saw the whites keeper uncharacteristically
spill his save for the first time and up popped Sean 'Oggie' Gallagher to
side foot the Glens back into the lead from 5 yards out, 3-2.  If his first
goal was a little fortunate then his second was nothing but superb.  After
finding a little bit of space he unleashed a rocket high over the keeper
into the roof of the net putting the boys on a commanding and well deserved
4-2 lead, bringing the half time whistle on a great 30 minute performance.

Looking along the line you realise the strength of the Squad when you see
Josh Brush, Alfie May, Taylor Tynan, Kyle Wilgaus and Matty Swann all
itching to come on, everyone of them fantastic footballers oozing with
talent who would walk into a starting position in near enough any other club
in the province.  

The second half started well but with the ever dimming light came the ever
growing threat of the Whites getting back into the game, increasingly
getting stronger in the attack with long balls being their weapon of choice.
When Ethan Carry popped up on the edge of the Glens box with a fine sliding
tackle to dispose the Distillery hitman, the line were again infuriated to
see the referee give a free kick on the edge of the  box for studs being up,
the referee up to then had been doing a great job bar maybe the penalty
decision but that one was not only harsh but wrong.  Distillerys big centre
mid made no mistake and rifled a great effort through the wall and into the
back of the net to turn what was a comfortable game into a fight to the end.
Distillerys goal gave them that lift that they needed and began taking the
game to the Glens who were looking increasingly nervous trying to defend
their lead.  Alfie May and Kyle Wilgaus both got in were it hurts finding
space in the box and both boys saw a double effort being twice struck of the
bar in quick succession.  The whites pushed on in search of an equaliser but
when the Glens dispossessed them deep in the young cockn hens half a deep
space opened up at left back and a superb through ball saw Matty Swann and
Alfie May beat the offside trap and go charging through for a two on one
situation with the keeper who came flying out of his box.  With Alfie to the
left of him and the ball at his feet Matty looked up and saw the advancing
keeper and decided to blast an effort past the Lisburn stopper, the keeper
had other ideas and deliberately saved the ball with his hands outside the
box.  The ref had no choice but to issue a red to the young lad leaving
Distillerys Centre Back and Captain to fill in in-between the sticks.  The
free kick ended up over the bar and with 10 minutes left and ten men on the
park it was the whites who were looking the more likely of the two to score.
With 5 minutes left Ethan Carry went back on to tighten up the midfield and
take some of the pressure of the defence.  Having come on from the bench
Brush and Tynan both put in a shift linking up well with the rest of the
lads in the middle to finally see the game through to the final whistle,
with a great deal of relief being felt around the Glentoran camp.  Great
performance and a thoroughly deserved 3 points.

Well Done Boys!

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