Martyn header seals superb comeback

A SUPERB comeback from two goals down led Glenavon to a stunning 3-2 victory at Stangmore Park on Tuesday.

The Blues trailed by two goals after just 23 minutes before goals from Marc Brown, Mark Farren and Ciaran Martyn secured a valuable three points in a thrilling win over Dungannon Swifts.

Gary Hamilton named an unchanged side from the team that had drawn with Coleraine three days earlier but in the opening exchanges, it looked like those players hadn’t freshened up after Saturday’s game.

They soon found themselves two behind as the Swifts hit a quick-fire double scored, typically when it comes to Dungannon, by two ex-Glenavon players.

Matty Hazley grabbed his fifth goal of the league season, and his third against Glenavon, in the 16th minute, smashing home a penalty kick after Eddie McCallion brought down Stefan Lavery inside the penalty area.

And just as Glenavon looked to dust themselves down, their troubles were doubled. This time it was Rathfriland man James Costello who found the net. He should even have netted a few minutes earlier but hit the post when he perhaps should have squared to the well-placed Hazley.

He wasn’t to be deterred though and soon found the bottom corner after Glenavon failed to clear a throw-in, which they felt should have been theirs in the first place.

They weren’t behind for long, just three minutes in fact as Marc Brown curled a sweetly struck free-kick round the wall and into the corner of the net to make it 2-1.

Dungannon did have opportunities to re-establish their two goal advantage before half-time but Davey O’Hare did well to tip Costello’s header from Cameron Grieve’s cross over the bar before Terry Fitzpatrick clipped the frame of the goal from the resulting corner.

Glenavon did have a brief chance to level but Mark Haughey could only head over from Mark Turkington’s cross.

That wasn’t to deter them for long and it was 2-2 within two minutes of the restart. Marc Brown turned provider as his corner was met with a powerful header from Mark Farren that flew into the back of the net.

They weren’t content with that and the comeback was complete just before the hour mark as Ciaran Martyn bagged a header of his own. Yet again Brown was involved, his free-kick causing problems and setting up Guy Bates. His header came back off the crossbar and Martyn was first to react to convert.

Dungannon did press to try and find an equaliser but former Glenavon winger Chris Lavery missed their best chance as he headed straight into Davy O’Hare’s arms.

That meant it was a fantastic comeback victory for Glenavon that lifted them above Dungannon and into ninth place in the Danske Bank Premiership.

DUNGANNON: Curran, McKerr, Montgomery, McMinn, Grieve, O’Neill (PJ Lavery 86), Fitzpatrick, Hutchinson (Harpur 57), Hazley, Costello (C Lavery 75), S Lavery. Unused Subs: Glackin, Brennan.

GLENAVON: O’Hare, Shannon, Haughey, McCallion, Turkington, Brown, Kilmartin, Gardiner (Neill 88), Martyn, Farren (Hamilton 90), Bates. Unused Subs: Doherty, Hagan, McGrory.