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Match Report

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The top of the Carnegie Irish Premier League is getting closer for the Glens as they leap-frog Cliftonville tonight following a 3-0 win over Limavady United.

Darren Boyce struck twice, with Shane McCabe's first goal for the Glens sandwiched between, to put Alan McDonald's men 3 points behind Linfield, and give them all to play for in the final four league fixtures of the season.

Glentoran started the game with a high tempo, moving the ball well and spreading play to both wings. It was to set the tone for the entire first half, but real goal scoring opportunities were few.

David Scullion tested the visiting 'keeper Glen Millar in the opening 5 minutes, but he did well to take it at the second attempt.

It was to be the first of 3 chances for Scullion in the opening 45 minutes, as he also curled a free kick narrowly wide, and miscued a left footed effort while well placed with 10 minutes to go before the break.

But it was not just Scullion who was having trouble finding the target, as Leeman and Hamilton also had efforts off target while well placed.

Boyce and Daryl Fordyce however, called Millar into action with stinging efforts from distance, but on both occasions the stopper was able to keep his team level.

The best chance of the half came just 2 minutes before the interval, when Boyce intelligently flicked on a quick Colin Nixon throw-in, into the path of Hamilton's run. The striker looked set to just lift the ball over the advancing Millar, but when he did, the ball dropped wide of goal.

For all the pace and enthusiasm in the first half, the one thing that really mattered was that the Glens had not yet found the break through. But they would not have to wait long into the second period for that.

Boyce signaled his team's intent in the first minute of the half, with a dangerous volley that almost opened the scoring. But the winger was not to be denied, and he got his first goal on 50 minutes, when he hooked home the ball with his left foot after Jason Hill put a teasing cross into the box.

Millar will have been disappointed to lose the flight of the ball before that goal, but he came to his team's rescue twice in as many minutes immediately after that goal, first denying Michael Halliday, then his strike partner Hamilton.

Glentoran looked composed in possession, but had to wait until the 70th minute before Shane McCabe would double the advantage, after Halliday set him up from Boyce's cross.

And with just over 5 minutes to go, Fordyce and Nixon combined to get the ball deep into the Limavady penalty area, and when Halliday again brought the ball down, he found Boyce who riffled home his second of the evening.

Courtesy of
Russell Pritchard/
PRESSEYE