Glenavon FC News

That was Stephen McBride’s terse but accurate summation of this woeful Glenavon performance made all the more disappointing coming hard on the heels of a hard-earned win against Cliftonville on Saturday.

There was little between the teams in a scrappy first half which saw Tony Grant go closest to opening the scoring as he controlled a high dropping ball into the box from Conor Walsh only to smash his shot against the cross bar from 10 yards out. Institute’s best effort of the half was a 25 yard free kick from full back Sean Roddy that flashed a yard wide of the post.

In the second half Paul Carvill’s free kick from outside the right side of the box dipped just too late and landed on top of the net while ‘Stute’s Philip Lowry beat the offside trap only for Robinson to rush off his line to block at his feet.

‘Stute had looked the livelier side in the second half and just after the hour mark they took a deserved lead. Roddy’s free kick from the right was only cleared back to him again and he slid a measured pass into the box for the run of Neil Harkin who fired a low left foot shot across Robinson and into the bottom corner.

McBride introduced Davy Larmour in the 65th minute but, while the striker produced some neat flick ons and lay offs he never really got a sniff at goal. In fact but for a Hugh Dickson header off the line the Drumahoe side would have doubled the lead when Paul Brown looped a header over Robinson. Dickson himself fluffed a great chance for an equalizer 11 minutes from time when he seemed surprised as Molloy’s deep cross found him unmarked six yards out at the far post.

Tonight’s Lottery draw once again failed to produce a winner for the £6400 Jackpot prize. Fourteen players won a ‘Match 3′ prize of £10 but the big one got away again. Next week’s draw will be held on Monday 6th October and will be worth a Jackpot of:

Glenavon v Institute, JJB Sports Premiership, Match 1.

On Tuesday evening, kick off 7:45pm, Glenavon and Institute finally get to play the ‘opening’ fixture of the JJB Sports Premiership that was originally scheduled for the 9th August only to be cancelled at the eleventh hour due to the referees’ strike.

Former Glenavon midfielder John Gregg is now managing ‘Stute and this will be his first visit to his old stomping ground in that role. The Drumahoe side earned a point with a battling display at Newry Showgrounds on Saturday, Ryan McCreadie’s goal cancelling out Stephen Garrett’s opener.

Stevie McBride will be hoping that he has some good news on the injury front but Paul Carvill could well be joining the long list of injured players after picking up a knock on Saturday. Whatever team he is able to put out, Macker’s stated philosophy is “There’s no point playing for a draw, we’ll always be looking to win our home games and pick up points on the road.”

If Glenavon wins tomorrow’s game it will extend an unbeaten run currently standing at three in a row and, should Bangor lose in their re-arranged game at Dungannon Swifts, move the Lurgan Blues up to 6th place in the table.

The Under 13 team got back to winning ways on Sunday Morning with a thumping 5-1 win over local rivals Craigavon City. Coach Brian King reports: “The 3rd Game of the season saw the Glenavon U13s return to form with a vastly improved performance to produce a 5-1 win against Craigavon City. Glenavon’s dominance from the off saw wonderful link up play from forward Ashley Lowry with great vision to place a through ball to Adam Kelly which was clinically placed into the corner of the net. The second goal came from a Michael Corden corner which the Craigavon defence failed to deal with and this was deflected into the net.

“Glenavon continued to press and were justly rewarded down the right wing when Daryl King struck a wonderfully lobbed effort which the City goalkeeper could only parry into the net. Another cool finish from Adam Kelly saw the score line 4-0 at half time. The second half began in similar fashion with Man of the Match – Adam Kelly completing a deserved hat-trick for his persistence. With the score at 5-0 Glenavon allowed Craigavon to get more of the ball and some communication errors in defence resulted in a hand-ball and converted penalty for the visitors. Glenavon almost added a sixth when a free kick by Daniel Thompson allowed keeper Jamie McAtavey a header in the dying minutes – the player judged to be in an offside position. Overall a very pleasing and disciplined performance to take into our next fixture.”

Results for Saturday 27th September:

Mid-Ulster Youth League
Under 11: Tandragee Youth 1-5 Glenavon
Under 13: Glenavon 5-1 Craigavon City, Sunday 11am
Under 14: Lisburn Rangers 1-5 Glenavon
Under 15: Glenavon 3-2 Craigavon City
Under 16: Glenavon 1-1 Ballinamallard

Lisburn Junior League:
Under 17: Lurgan Town 1-2 Glenavon

Goals from Paul Brown and Michael McKee helped to make it three wins out of three for Davy Maguire’s Under 17 side.

Harry Cavan Youth Challenge Cup (first round) (kick-off 2pm)
Albert Foundry U18 0-1 Glenavon U18

A Paddy Lowe goal was enough to see Brendan Grimes’ Under 18 side through to the next round of the Youth Cup.

Under 13 Update

(Coaches: Barry Cochrane and Brian King)

Coach Brian King brings us up to date with the season so far for the Glenavon Under 13 side.

1st Game – Saturday 13th September: Glenavon 2-0 Dungannon Youth

An exciting opening fixture against last year’s League winners provided a stern test for the U13s. The first half was dominated by the Glenavon defence and midfield collectively with Dungannon having limited shots on target. By half time a mix up with the Dungannon defence allowed Daniel Thompson a scrambled tap in to put the home side in front. The second half was much the same with a man of the match display from Andrew Johnston preventing every attacking move down the left. Overall the team discipline and support for fellow team mates got its just reward when Adam Kelly scored a second goal and ended the game as a contest. The confidence was now raised by Glenavon and some great passing plus several missed chances kept the final score at 2-0.

2nd Game – Sunday 21st September: Glenavon 0-1 Sunnyside

The second match of the season saw the U13s produce another worthy display on the pitch with a lapse in concentration and failure to take chances resulting in a 1-0 win for the away team. The first half was dominated by Glenavon from defence and midfield with several chances wasted and some great goalkeeping from Sunnyside. The goal arrived against the run of play, with several players caught out of position and a scramble in the box saw the ball trickle into the corner of the net. The second half saw Sunnyside on the attack with the home side beginning to tire and we could have gone further behind but for Man of the match – Jamie McAtavey being in such good form. In summary the game was played at good pace which was pleasing to the number of supporters on both sides – credit again goes to team discipline but our luck needs to change quickly in front of goal.