A warm day at Ballymacoss and the boys lined up against high flying Lisburn Youth in an important League fixture. Two very familiar faces in the Lisburn side with two ex Glen men Kyle Wilgaus and Taylor Tynan starting for the Youth after leaving the East Belfast club earlier in the season. The whistle went and the wee Glens looking great in their new black kit got straight out of the blocks at 100 miles an hour, immediatley playing eye catching pass and move football pinning Lisburn back from the off. The boys really upped their game and youth soon found themselves coming under wave after wave of attack. The young lads in orange were finding themselves more and more on the back foot in their own half but for all the dominance the Glens were finding it hard to put the finishing touch to their efforts. The Glens did go close with efforts from May, Tweedie and Swann but just not close enough. 15 minutes in and a long ball found the Youth in a position which had been alien to them so far and from 20 yards out the number 8 unleashed a scorcher to give wee Paul no chance with their first shot of the game, 1-0 Lisburn.
The goal seemed to give LY a lot of confidence and started to come into the game a lot more with the rest of the half being very evenly contested but being seen out with the advantage to the home side. The second half started were the first finished with both teams giving their all but with Kurtis McGookin snuffing out any Lisburn attacks and Sean OG pulling strings in the midfield like a seasoned professional it looked more and more like the boys would get back into the game. Ten minutes in and it finally came, David Sloan went down the left flank like a steam train delivering a fantastic cross to the waiting forehead of Ryan Tweedie at the back post who laid it off to Luka Modric look a like Alfie May who rifled in the equalizer from close range to the delight of everyone on the side line. The boys took a great deal of heart from the goal but with Ballymacoss proving on previous visits to be something of a bad luck charm the feelings were tense on the line, not that it effected the kids because with ten minutes left on the clock a goal mouth scramble found the combative Ben Walker win back possesion, he picked out Ryan The Predator Tweedie lurking back post again who rattled an effort off the keeper falling to the left peg of Sloan who ripped the back of the net sending the 2001 faithful into euphoria. It seemed the boys for once were getting the rub of the green and the goals their performance deserved. The game wasnt over yet however and Lisburn refused to give up the ghost putting the Glens under pressure from a few last minute corners and forcing Paul McLauglin into making a great save from a deep cross, but the the boys stood firm and saw out the game restoring their league status back to top spot in the process. Well done lads a fantastic team perormance with some stand out efforts not going unnoticed, most of all Sean Gallagher who received man of the match in the process.
Next up is the NIBFA Cup Semi-Final against a pretty much unknown Dungannon side, but if our boys continue to perform as they did today then we have no reason to fear anyone.
MATCH REPORT BY RYAN WARD
