Short Stories

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 Andy Kilmartin 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: but 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.

Newry City loanee Mooney, who tortured Turkington all night, took home the Man of the Match beers with goalscorer Brown being our best performer.

More updates coming soon, bit busy with work related commitments.

2023-2024 Season: A loss in Lisburn

After coming away with just a point on Friday night against Rathfriland, we were back in action on the Tuesday with a visit to Lisburn where Distillery were to be our hosts for the night. Distillery of course were the first club side of a certain Martin O'Neill. MON would make just seven appearances for the Whites before the legendary Brian Clough recruited him for Nottingham Forest; and the rest is history.

Could we extend our unbeaten run to eight games in all competitions tonight?

Well once more the bookmakers thought our chances of winning were remote. They had the home side as 11-10 favourites to take the win tonight with our best price being 9-4. However for those who think we would have a second successive draw on our hands, this was priced at 5-2.

New Grosvenor Stadium, Lisburn

Attendance: 191 (51 away)

We made changes again for tonight's match, in fact it was a double change once more. Zach Annett came for Raul Zabrauteanu in a switch that allowed Nicholas Turkington to move into the left wing spot vacated by the Romanian. The other change was a like for like one with loanee Cian Stewart coming in on the right wing for Sean Hill who like Zabrauteanu, dropped to the substitutes bench. The forward was again led by former Whites striker Jonathan Doyle who was keen to bag his fourth of the season against his ex-employers. The home side were skippered by former Ballyclare striker Joe Tully who has 18 goals in all competitions with 14 of them in the Steel and Sons Cup: and seven of them in one game against Carrick Rangers Reserves. He would be one that we would need to keep a very close eye on it. They also fielded all three of their loanees from the Premiership, two of them from the Reds of Cliftonville.

After the slow starts of the previous games, we opened the scoring after just eight minutes and it was tragic for the home side in the way that it came about.. Veteran defender Adam McCart looked to clear his lines but smacked it against team-mate Gerard Storey and saw it squirt loose into the path of Doyle who took a touch before twisting and blasting the ball into the net from the outside of the penalty area; giving home keeper Craig Robinson no chance whatsoever. Some way to open the scoring. Yet we imploded on the half hour as we conceded three times in just four mad minutes. Tully scored the equaliser, his 19th of the season, and then had contributions in the other two as we came apart in a state of disbelief.

Thankfully we didn't concede any more but to go from 1-0 up to 3-1 down so easily, meant that there were a number of harsh home truths said in the away dressing room at the interval. It had to be done to see if it could change our fortunes. As it happened, we came out with more fight as if we couldn't let this carry on at all, and we were rewarded with a second goal ten minutes into that second half. A surging run into the box from skipper Johnny Wilson saw him baulked by Mark McKee as he looked to pull the trigger. Penalty! Up stepped Andrew Ferguson to convert high into the net for his fourth of the season of which three have come from the spot in as many attempts. Alas we couldn't grab a third and equalising goal despite having 35 minutes to do so, and slipped to our first defeat since 27 August when Crusaders beat us 2-0 in the League Cup.

Whites skipper Tully, who had been a handful all night, took away the Man of the Match beers whilst Doyle was deemed to be our best performer in the second league loss of the season. This leaves us with an identical number of wins, draws and losses after six games and a goal difference that is neither in the positive or the negative. Queens University still lead the way with an immaculate record of six wins from six. their latest being a 2-1 home success over Portstewart where Matt McManus scored the winner 19 minutes from the end. That same evening saw Moyola Park and Limavady United serve up a 6-4 win for the Park at Coleraine Showgrounds. Not a dull match, then?

2023-2024: Six of the best…once again!

The midweek defeat in Lisburn really stung, especially considering how well we were playing beforehand. The fact our solid defence just collapsed like the proverbial deck of playing cards in just four minutes of sheer madness was unbelievable to say the least. Not even an improved second half showing could rectify the damage that had been done. So we watched those four minutes over and over again like a bad horror movie, dissecting the frailties.

We knew we had to get back to winning ways as soon as, ideally next game.

Before the next match, experienced defender Mark McCullagh expressed a few concerns that he wasn't getting as many games as he liked. Granted Craig Briers has been playing reasonably well, I felt MM needed a chance or two to show me what he can bring to the table. If he performs, he will stay in: simple as. One player who is happy though is back up keeper Allister McVeigh has pledged his future to us despite rumoured interest elsewhere; he's a very capable deputy to Jonah Magill. Just the tonic ahead of Saturday…

Saturday takes us to East Park, the home of East Belfast, in the quarter finals of the Steel and Sons Cup. This is a real chance to get into the semi-finals and within touching distance of a piece of silverware already. The bookies have priced both sides at 8-5 with 5-2 your best price for a draw. They're gonna fancy their chances, we just have to be up for the task in hand.

East Park, Belfast

Attendance: 329  (153 away)

In light of Tuesday's loss, we changed two members of the back four but not because we were making them scapegoats. Mark McCullagh was given a chance to prove his worth following his chat midweek whilst Jack Graham was given a start in central defender as we rested Andrew Ferguson. Vice-Captain Craig Briers was the one to make way for McCullagh, but this was not going to be the first time changes like this would happen. The bench was selected so we had cover for all positions should we needed to utilise it. East Belfast had a squad that had a number of Glentoran connections, including Congolese striker Nick Beta  and pacy teenager Jay Dalzell. Can we avoid the banana skin that was in our path?