Queen's University 0-3 Glentoran II
Steel & Sons Cup, Third Round
Saturday 15th September 2018
Goalscorers Dean Truesdale (2) and Mal Smith
Glentoran travelled across Belfast this afternoon for the first in a Glentoran and Queen's University double header this week as the 20s faced the Students in the 3rd round of the Steel and Sons Cup before the first team take on the same opposition in the First Round of the County Antrim Shield on Tuesday night.
Queen's, runners up in the Premier Intermediate League last season and holders of the Intermediate Cup were one of the pre-tournament favourites for the competition and so Glentoran knew it would be a tough afternoon.
The wee Glens were undoubtedly helped by the appearances of Dwayne Nelson, James Ferrin, Nathan Kerr, Dylan Davidson and Joe Crowe but the young players in the u20 panel more than played their part in what was an excellent 3-0 victory.
The Glens were a little shaky to start off and Queen's forced three good chances in the first 15 minutes and but for some erratic finishing could have taken the lead.
The Glens made a slight formation adjustment to quell the threat of Queens number 10 and from then on controlled the remainder of the first half.
This was confirmed when James Ferrin played a forward pass to Davidson who in turn found O'Neill, O'Neills pass to A marauding Nathan Kerr was inch perfect, as was Kerr's cross to find Dean Truesdale who slid the ball home inside the 6 yard box to finish a great flowing move for 1-0.
5 minutes later it was 2-0 when Captain Mal Smith again worked his magic from a corner as he found the space to head home his 4th goal in 3 games and his 5th of the season so far - not bad for a right back!
Glentoran expected Queen's to come out all guns blazing in the second half but they were instead a little subdued as the Glens fashioned two early chances to see the game off but Davidson and then Smith were denied by the Queen's keeper.
Queen's grew into the half and commited bodies forward to try and get back into the game but Glentoran's back line was well organised and stood firm to restrict Queen's to half chances.
Dean Truesdale ended the game as a contest with 20 minutes to go when he scored the goal of the game meeting a Mal Smith cross with a superb curling left foot volley that flew in off the far post for 3-0.
Queen's came closest to getting back into the game when their right winger found himself one on one with Nelson but his fierce shot smashed off the post to preserve Glentoran's clean sheet.
Glentoran II: Dwayne Nelson, Mal Smith, Jamie Glover, James Ferrin, James McCarthy (Lewis McGarvey 70), Joe Crowe, Nathan Kerr, Sean Gallagher, Dylan Davidson (Eoin Brown 65), Dean Truesdale, Paul O'Neill (Ross Tharma 75)