Cairns upbeat after last-gasp winner

Glebe Rangers boss Peter Cairns was delighted on Saturday after a last-gasp strike saw his side pick up three crucial points in their fight to avoid relegation.

Adam McCart struck the winner for 10-man Glebe in injury time to snatch a 1-0 victory away to Loughgall.

Glebe remain second bottom in the Championship One but gained some ground on Larne and Warrenpoint who are falling towards the drop zone.

Rangers sit on 16 points and are seven points behind Larne and Limavady. Limavady were boosted by a win on Saturday but Glebe have a chance to claw back Larne and Warrenpoint when they play them at home.

Reflecting on Saturday’s victory, Cairns said: “Yeah, we did well, we seem to be getting stronger every week as well. We kind of have got into the way we want to play.

“We wanted to make sure we were still in it with about half an hour to go and I thought we were excellent.

“We did really well, it was what we were hoping for, 3 points.”

On Saturday the first period saw little fluent attacking play from either side. The visitors came close after 11 minutes when Ryan Marks hit a free-kick from 25 yards was parried by goalkeeper Marc Robinson.

Loughgall tested Rangers ‘keeper Matt McGraw on 33 minutes when smart interchange between Dale Malone and Aaron Willis allowed the former to get a strike on target.

Glebe should have opened the scoring on 38 minutes when the alert Nigel Turner dispossessed Loughgall captain Steven Ferguson in midfield before racing through on goal. Turner ignored the option of passing inside to strike partner Tommy Elder in favour of going alone and he saw his shot well saved by ‘keeper Robinson.

The visitors did have the ball in the Loughgall goal following a sharp attack on the stroke of half-time however it was adjudged to be offside.

Loughgall put in a much improved performance in the second half, and even threatened to snatch the win after creating a few goalscoring chances. One of which came on 74 minutes when Stephen Doyle’s set-up for Jeff Brady saw the left-back blaze over from the edge of the penalty area.

A quick break with two minutes remaining saw Doyle play an incisive pass in for Ferguson, through on goal with ‘keeper McGraw outrushing, who couldn’t control the pass before Malone following-up was quickly closed down.

One minute later Glebe were reduced to ten men when Owen Moody, only on the field for 29 minutes as a substitute, was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge.

Nonetheless Rangers pressed for a late winner and received their rewards in the fourth minute of injury time as a corner fell kindly for McCart. Fifteen yards from goal, he hit a great shot into the corner of the net.

Loughgall: Robinson, Hall, Brady, Stewart, Hull, Willis (Blevins 74), Hawthorne, Ferguson, Malone, S Doyle, Pedlow(Hylands 74m). Unused sub: N Doyle.

Glebe Rangers: McGraw, Forgrave, Morrison, Sheppard, Rice, McCart, Marks, Kennoway, Turner (Moody 60m), Elder, McAllister (Parkhill 70m). Unused sub: Tannahill.