Glenavon FC News

With Marty Quinn attending a family wedding today, his Assistant Jeff Montgomery was in charge so this week we have Jeff’s View in the post-match interview.

Gary Liggett celebrates his goal with Adrian Harper. Photo by Russell Pritchard/Presseye.com

Just as the heavens opened at The Oval Glenavon took a tenth minute lead thanks to an excellent finish by Gary Liggett, a second goal in only his second start of the season. Stuart King and Trevor Molloy exchanged passes and the ball fell for Adrian Harper. He slipped it through to Liggett who raced through on goal and slotted a low right foot shot inside Elliott Morris’ left hand post from just inside the angle of the penalty area.

Just after the re-start Tuda Murphy had to dive at the feet of Kyle Neill to cut out a dangerous cross and Daryl Fordyce’s 17th minute shot from just outside the box was parried well by Murphy before Callacher put a header wide in the 24th minute.

Conor Walsh spurned a great chance to double the lead a minute later when Molloy’s deep cross was missed by Morris and the Glenavon skipper found himself unmarked at the far post but he drove his shot right across the goal area.

Glentoran's Jamie McGovern and Glenavon's Stuart King. Photo by Russell Pritchard/Presseye.com

King doubled Glenavon’s lead in the 29th minute when his 40 yard free kick totally deceived Morris, thanks to Jay Magee’s run across the Glentoran keeper’s line of sight, the ball bouncing near the keeper’s feet before trundling over the line.

Glentoran was given a lifeline back into the game when Murphy allowed Neill’s 56th minute free kick to squirm under his body after he had seemed to make a good save when the ball bent round the wall. Murphy did well with a double save in the 59th minute when he pushed Callacher’s 30 yard shot wide and quickly regained his feet to save Waterworth’s follow-up shot.

On the hour mark Waterworth blasted wide when well placed and seven minutes later Molloy’s cut-back set up a chance for Adrian Haper but, under pressure, he lifted his shot well over the Glentoran bar. Alan McDonald brought on Gary Hamilton in the 72nd minute and he was immediately involved setting up a chance for Fordyce who saw his shot strike the outside of Murphy’s right hand post. Seconds later Harper’s slip allowed Hamilton a clear run on goal but Murphy raced off his line and made a great save from the Glentoran striker’s low shot.

Glenavon's Trevor Molloy holds off Glentoran's Sean Ward. Photo by Russell Pritchard/Presseye.com

Fordyce completed the comeback for the Glens in the 83rd minute when he showed composure at the far post after Hamilton’s corner found its way to him and he stroked a shot into the net as he was being closed down.

Teams:

Glentoran: Morris, Nixon (c), Neill (Hamilton 72), Clarke, Ward, Fordyce, Waterworth, Hall (Gillespie 57), Callacher (Halliday 75), Hill, McGovern. Subs not used: Gibbons (GK), Black.

Glenavon: Murphy, Haughey, Magee, Gracey, Turkington, Harper, Walsh (c), Molloy (Murray 85), King, McDonagh (Harpur 78), Liggett (Costello 77). Subs not used: Campbell, Carvill.

Referee: Brian Turkington

Goals: Liggett 10, King 29, Neill 56, Fordyce 83

Cautions: Haughey 48, Nixon 53, Magee 63

Glenavon travels to The Oval tomorrow for the first leg of the Cooperative Insurance Cup Third Round tie against Glentoran without Tony Grant as he serves a one game automatic suspension following his sending off on Tuesday night against Cliftonville.

Paul Carvill returns to the squad and Marty Quinn intends to reward his subs with a place in the starting line-up. “We’ll probably give our ‘long suffering’ subs a run in the starting eleven. The likes of Mark Haughey, Adrian Harper and Stuart King all have a good chance of starting the game; they’re good players who deserve a run-out; they’ve been very patient and they’ll get their chance tomorrow. The players we’re leaving out aren’t ‘dropped’ they’re just making way to give the other lads a run. We’ll still be taking the game very, very seriously and we want to get something out of it and keep the tie interesting for our home game” Marty informed the website on Friday.

Marty was delighted with the news of the call-ups for Jay Magee, Ryan Harpur and James Costello to the Under 23 squad. “They’re very worthy of the call-up. I’m delighted for them and hopefully they can gain from the experience.”

Jay Magee, Ryan Harpur and James Costello have been called into the Northern Ireland Under 23 squad to face Wales at Shamrock Park on Tuesday 24th November.

Congratulations to the three lads on their call-up.

More details on the BBC website.

Marty’s View (Audio)

As he promised, Glenavon manager Marty Quinn made three changes for tonight’s Carling Premiership clash at Solitude. James Costello and Conor Walsh dropped to the bench and there was no place in the squad for Paul Carvill as Mark Turkington was handed his first start of the season. Tony Grant returned and Gary Liggett also got his first start this season as he joined him up front.

Barry Holland and Ciaran Donaghy returned from flu for Cliftonville and manager’s son Mark Patterson was also back after a spell out injured but Saturday’s goal scorer Mark Clarke and George McMullan both missed out with injuries and Chris Scannell was unavailable due to illness.

Carling Premiership, Cliftonville v Glenavon. Photo by Darren Kidd/Presseye.com

After a bright Glenavon start with chances for Murray and Grant a dreadful error by Jay Magee saw him chip his own keeper from a long way out to give the home side an unexpected lead. Murray had seen his second minute shot saved by the legs of keeper John Connolly and Tony Grant’s follow up shot was blocked en route to goal before Boyce’s 20 yard drive in the 8th minute was tipped over the bar by Plummer, the Glenavon keeper also saving well at his near post from Holland’s 10th minute shot.

There was 13 minutes on the clock when, on a tricky, sodden pitch, Jay Magee tried to chip a back pass to Andrew Plummer but it turned into the perfect lob over the stranded keeper’s head and into the net.

After Eamon Murray cleared a corner off the line in the 25th minute Grant’s cross three minutes later proved a fraction too high for Liggett and Harpur fired a shot a couple of yards over the bar after working himself space just outside the Reds penalty area in the 33rd minute.

Glenavon started handing out the Christmas presents early again when captain for the night Willo McDonagh headed the Reds 2-0 in front on 37 minutes after Murphy’s corner was flicked on and it was inexplicably headed back into the net by the Glenavon midfielder.

A second own goal from Glenavon as Willo McDonagh puts the ball into his own net. Photo by Darren Kidd/Presseye.com

Francis Murphy should have made things even worse for Glenavon in the 43rd minute when he was picked out at the far post by Scannell’s cross but he put his header a yard wide with the goal at his mercy. Mark Patterson’s quickly taken free kick a minute later from the corner of Glenavon’s box caught everyone by surprise and he was unlucky not to score as his lob came back off the base  of the far post.

Glenavon went close to pulling a goal back on the stroke of half time when hard work by Harpur allowed him to feed the ball out to Molloy and his cross was only cleared as far as Murray near the penalty spot but his rising shot glanced off the head of Donaghy and just cleared the cross bar.

Marty Quinn threw all 3 subs on in the 63rd minute but just a minute later it was 3-0 to the home side when Ronan Scannell drove a shot past Plummer from 10 yards after Boyce controlled Murphy’s corner and laid the ball back to his team mate.

Cliftonville's Ryan Catney and Liam Boyce with Glenavon's Willo McDonagh. Photo by Darren Kidd/Presseye.com

Willo McDonagh pulled a goal back from the penalty spot in the 77th minute after Scannell was red carded for handling Grant’s goal bound shot with Connolly well beaten. There was still six minutes plus stoppage time on the clock when McDonagh completed a strange ‘hat trick’ when he out jumped Connolly to nod home Campbell’s high ball into the box. The game took yet another bizarre twist when, after consulting first with his assistant and then with the fourth official Trevor Moutray, referee Adrian McCourt sent off Tony Grant after the Glenavon striker was involved in a scuffle with Liam Fleming inside the Cliftonville net as he tried to retrieve the ball for the re-start. The fourth official also sent Marty Quinn off shortly after the same incident for alleged  ’aggressive behaviour’.

Tony Grant gets a red card from Referee Adrian McCourt. Photo by Darren Kidd/Presseye.com

Teams:

Sent off: R Scannell (77), Grant (84)

Goals: Magee og 13, McDonagh og 37, 77 pen, 84, R Scannell 64

Cliftonville: Connolly, Fleming, R Scannell, B Holland, O’Hara, Donaghy, Patterson, Murphy (Brennan 90+2), Catney, Boyce (Dunlop 87), O’Connor (Smyth 87). Subs not used: Boyd, Bannon

Glenavon: Plummer, Campbell, Turkington, Magee, Murray (Harper 63), Grant, Molloy (Costello 63), McDonagh, Gracey (King 63), Liggett, Harpur. Subs not used: Walsh, Haughey

Referee: Adrian McCourt

As Marty Quinn intimated in his post-match comments after Saturday’s defeat to Linfield, he will be making three changes to the starting line-up for tonight’s game against Cliftonville at Solitude (kick off 7:45 pm). “I’ll be making three changes to hopefully liven things up a wee bit and make a couple of positional changes so three of the starting line-up from Saturday will be dropping to the bench tonight. It’s not a case of rotation; it’s a case of putting out a team that I feel is capable of winning the game tonight,” the Glenavon boss told the website this afternoon. He was keeping the exact nature of the changes close to his chest, however!

Cliftonville will be desperate to get one over on one of their former managers as Eddie Patterson’s team is badly in need of a win, having earned just two points from their last five Premiership games, the last win coming in a 4-0 hammering of Linfield back on 21st September.