Richard Lecky of Ballinamallard chases down a ball well in the Glentoran half
Ballinamallard United 0
Glentoran 3
A late late blast gave Glentoran what looked like a comfortable three points at Ferney Park on Saturday.
But the Glens collected the points to virtually ensure their top six finish in the Danske Premier League in a tight battle with Ballinamallard, scoring two late late goals to add a little gloss to their score.
With the game looking like stalemate, a cross from the right by Niall Henderson found substitute Curtis Allen on the edge of the six yard box. Given too much room, he swivelled and shot home to set the Glens on their way.
Then two goals in the closing minutes gave the Oval side breathing space.
On 90 minutes Fra McCaffery drove a ball in from the left. With defenders and strikers all missing the ball, it somehow crept just inside the far post to beat keeper Alvin Rouse.
Then on 94 minutes Glentoran scored a third when Ballinamallard were caught on the counter.
A lovely defence splitting pass found McCaffrey again who stroked home from 25 yards, with keeper Rouse racing from his line.
In the first half Glentoran struck the woodwork through McKee and had a header from Addis cleared off the line by McCartney.
Eddit Patterson Glentoran manager felt his side should have gone in a the break two or three up.
He said Ballinamallard took the game to the Glens at times but he was disappointed his side didn’t get anything from the first half.
He felt his side got a little scrappy in the second half and they were fortunate to take the lead.
“It was a good finish by Curtis Allen to set us on our way,” he said.
He felt his team panicked after the goal.
“The second goal settled us right down and fortunately we got the third. But at the end of the day coming down here is never easy. Three points was paramount, irrespective of what the scoreline was going to be.”
He felt three points have secured his side’s top six position.
“What we have to do now is set our sights on our next target. We’re six points behind third place with a game in hand. So we’ll start seeing now. Hopefully get three points next week and then set our target for the rest of the season.”
“We’re a very young side, riddled with injury of late with 7 or 8 senior players injured. After our Setanta Cup game on Monday night we’ll knuckle down for the visit to Solitude on Saturday… hopefully we can take another step forward for a top six place.”
Ballinamallard manager Whitey Anderson knew the game wasn’t going to be pretty, but at half time, he said he was happy with 0-0.
“They get the goal and we pushed on and in the end they caught us with two counter attack goals. But at the end of the day the 3-0 scoreline was not a 3-0 game.
“The reality is that at 0-0 at half time I was happy. It was scrappy but I was happy enough with that. I just wanted to make sure we were in the game. And when they scored with 16 minutes to go.
“At 1-0 we had a great opportunity when Richard Lecky went through and really should have played in Andy Crawford first time. It could have been 1-1. It just really typifies our decision making in the final third of the pitch at the moment.”
He couldn’t understand how Henderson was still on the pitch.
“He slaps David Kee in the mouth and they get the free kick. It was Henderson who supplied the cross for the opening goal. But when you are down at the bottom it typifies everything.
“The plus is that there is no change at the bottom, but it wasn’t our doing. At the end of the day we have to look after ourselves. We had an opportunity today and we didn’t take it. It’s as simple as that. We are just going to have to keep working hard for the last six games and get a result somewhere.”