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17 Nov 2024 22:24:14

2023-2024 Season: Under the Lights

After the drama in Tobemore, we played a rare Friday night game under the lights of the Dub as we entertained Rathfriland Rangers. Rathfriland were our first competitive opponents of the season after we had finished with our pre-season friendlies. That game saw us edge past the visitors on their own patch, 2-1 after extra time thanks to a Louis Blackstock goal.

Could we repeat the dose on own pitch this time?

it does seem though the bookmakers don't think we are as good as what our recent performances say we are. They have priced Rathfriland as 6-5 favourites to take the three points on offer tonight. We have been best priced at 2-1 whilst it is 5-2 for the fixture to end in a draw.

The Dub, Belfast

Attendance: 96 (7 away)

Despite winning at Tobemore, I opted to make a couple of changes for the Friday night fixture. Nicholas Turkington replaced Zach Annett at left back whilst Sean Hill, who created that last gasp winner, was on the right wing in place of loanee Cian Stewart. With Ryan Worthington still feeling his thigh a bit, we brought in Lithuanian Ernestas Verenka onto the bench. In fact, we had cover for every possible position which is a manager's dream. Rathfriland started each one of their three loan signings from the Premiership which further illustrated the pulling power between the sides. They were skippered by 40 year old midfielder who started his career at Celtic but never made an appearance for the Glaswegian giants. He would then play almost 400 games in the top flight here with Glentoran, Distillery and Glenavon: could our own skipper Johnny Wilson get the better of him?

Our first league match this season under the lights was an even affair with both sides having an equal amount of shots but neither side was more prolific in front of goal, although the match statistics seemed to suggest we were. The goals for ourselves and Rathfriland came either side of the half time interval with the away side taking the lead five minutes before the break when Aodhan Doherty, on loan from Linfield, crossed to the back post where fellow loanee Jordan Mooney rose high above Nicholas Turkington to place a header into the roof of the net.

We would equalise three minutes after the interval when a half cleared corner was headed out to Jonathan Doyle who laid it off to Turkington who in turn found Gary Brown 25 yards out. The veteran hit it first time and it simply rocketed into the net with Rathfriland's Ronan Burns given no chance whatsoever. Neither side could find a winner in the 42 plus 6 minutes that followed, and we shook hands on a draw. Despite not winning, we rose a place to third as our incredible start to the season continued. Elsewhere, Queens University made it five from five with a 3-1 away win at Armagh City.