Glentoran were lacking in passion, fight & desire and as a result, lost this game and with it, the chance to move up a couple of places in the Danske Bank Premiership table. The game, rescheduled from last night only went ahead due to the hard work of staff, volunteers and supporters. Unfortunately their efforts weren't rewarded. The home side were unchanged from Tuesday night's victory over Carrick Rangers with Niall McGinn making a return to the squad as one of the substitutes.
On 10 minutes the visitors might have grabbed an early lead but Isaac Baird's effort was just wide of the post. The Glens could have gone in front a minute later when Conor McMenamin ran onto a ball from Jay Donnelly but having taken the ball around the goalkeeper, McMenamin saw his goalbound shot blocked by Daniel Wallace. Just before the quarter hour mark a mistake by James Singleton allowed Michael O'Connor to race clear. Aaron McCarey came out of his area looking to clear the ball and O'Connor went to ground. There seemed to be no contact and referee Shane Andrews allowed play to continue however O'Connor escaped any punishment for his apparent simulation.
A very lethargic Glentoran paid the price for their slow start when Glenavon took the lead with 26 minutes played. James Singleton played the ball forward to Jay Donnelly but his poor pass to Joe Crowe allowed the visitors to take possession and when Jack Malone slipped the ball through to substitute Conor McCloskey, he fired the ball past Aaron McCarey and into the bottom corner of the City End goal. There was no real response for Glentoran and indeed they might have fallen further behind on 30 minutes when Crowe lost possession and Malone's shot was just narrowly over the crossbar.
Halftime: Glentoran 0-1 Glenavon
Rodney McAree made 3 substitutions at the break and 2 of them were involved in the first chance of the second half. Danny Purkis won the ball in the air and found Bobby Burns. He, in turn picked out Niall McGinn but his effort on goal was straight at the keeper. McGinn had another opportunity on 56 minutes when he was found by a great pass from Terry Devlin but the Northern Ireland international's clipped shot drifted wide of the far post. The same two players combined again 5 minutes later but this time McGinn's shot was deflected behind for a corner.
Glentoran's fate was sealed on 73 minutes when visiting skipper, Matthew Fitzpatrick was left in acres of space and ran on to fire past McCarey from 16 yards with the Glentoran defence appealing in vain for offside. In the dying minutes Rory Donnelly headed wide from a Niall McGinn cross and then Junior was unlucky to see his header hit the post with Danny Purkis unable to force the ball home. So yet another disappointing day for the large home support. There was an improvement in the second half with McGinn and Purkis certainly showing the desire and fight required...... but overall, the performance was just not good enough!
Photographs by PACEMAKER
Glentoran: McCarey, Wilson (c), McCullough (Junior 85), Crowe (Kane 46), Singleton, Burns (R. Donnelly 76), Devlin, Marshall, Wightman (McGinn 46), McMenamin & J. Donnelly (Purkis 46)
