A bad injury to Bobby Burns after an hour cast a shadow over this hotly contested game at Seaview. Normally a draw at this venue would be seen as a result to cherish, but today Glentoran will feel that a real opportunity was missed after dominating the first half and playing against ten men for 40 minutes.
Warren Feeney stuck with the 3-5-2 formation that’s served him well in the past two matches but was forced into two unwanted changes as James Singleton (one match suspension) and Paddy McClean (groin strain) were unavailable today. Skipper Marcus Kane and summer signing Josh Kelly returned to the starting line up in their place.
The Glens deservedly opened the scoring on 34 minutes and the goal reflected their dominance of the half. At that point its fair to say we should have been much further ahead as prior to the goal we had no shortage of chances – Luke McCullough had headed wide, Jay Donnelly shot straight at Jonny Tuffey when one on one with the Crues keeper, Cammy Palmer had a good shot well saved, Junior inexplicably missed from two feet after a great low cross from Donnelly, and jay hit a decent effort just over from distance. In return Crusaders had just one meaningful chance – a great effort from Paul Heatley that went just wide,
When the opener came it was from a left sided corner from Cammy Palmer. Marcus Kane headed against the crossbar and when the over active Palmer played the rebound back into the Crusaders area it was parried by Tuffey and Jay Donnelly was alert to hit the rebound cleanly past Tuffey for his 70th goal for Glentoran.
The game then followed a similar Shore Road pattern as two minutes later Heatley, the smallest man on the pitch. Was clear to head a Billy Joe Burns ball past Aaron McCarey and into the Glens’ net. Fortunately that one was disallowed for offside, but five minutes and three bookings came the equaliser right on the blow. This one was also very familiar as Philip Lowry ran on to a neat flick from Adam Lecky to run unchallenged into the Glens box to hit home.
Half Time : Crusaders 1-1 Glentoran
Five minutes into the second half the Glens were handed an advantage when Crues defender Josh Robinson, already booked for a nasty two footed lunge on Bobby Burns, was sent off for holding Jay Donnelly back when the Glens striker was homing in on goal with the ball at his feet.
The Glens nearly capitalised three minutes later when Josh Kelly had a header saved, but the injury to Bobby Burns after crashing against the perimeter wall and advertising board silenced the away support on the hour mark. Bobby was replaced by Rory Donnelly but he lay pitchside for a good ten minutes receiving attention from both clubs’ physiotherapists before finally being stretchered to the changing room and boarding an ambulance. A very unlucky injury to a very honest and popular player and everyone in the Glentoran Family wishes him a full and speedy recovery.
Not long after the Crues had a chance to take the lead when a penalty was awarded against Aidan Wilson. However Aaron McCarey – in command of his area throughout – saved well from Ben Kennedy.
Despite being a man short, Crusaders still had the better of the exchanges for the rest of the game, but the only real chance for either side was cleared off the line by Rory Donnelly.
This game will be remembered for the Burns injury, nine bookings (five for Glentoran and four for Crusaders) and an incident at half time when soaked Glentoran supporters were prevented by stewards from gaining shelter in the largely empty West Stand. But frankly the Glens will be disappointed not to have taken their chances or capitalised on a forty-minute one man advantage.
Final Score : Crusaders 1-1 Glentoran
Photographs by PACEMAKER
Glentoran: McCarey, Kane (captain), Wilson, McCullough, Sule, Kelly, Burns (R Donnelly 59) Palmer (Fisher 73), O’Connor, Junior (McCartan 88) & J Donnelly
Subs (Not used): Webber, Murphy, Walsh, McGinn
