Glenavon reward as Danny Purkis ‘gamble’ pays off over Cliftonville

Danny Purkis’ ‘gamble’ in front of goal was rewarded with a spot on the scoresheet against Cliftonville that secured a share of the spoils for Glenavon.
Danny Purkis fires home Glenavon’s equaliser against Cliftonville. Pic by INPHO.Danny Purkis fires home Glenavon’s equaliser against Cliftonville. Pic by INPHO.
Danny Purkis fires home Glenavon’s equaliser against Cliftonville. Pic by INPHO.

The Mourneview Park men enjoyed the upper hand in terms of possession and scoring opportunities over a Cliftonville side suffering this season on the road.

However, Paddy McLaughlin’s Reds broke the deadlock on 67 minutes against the run of play off substitute Daire O’Connor and appeared on course for a welcome away win until Purkis made his mark.

Purkis took a chance to attack the space behind the Cliftonville backline on 71 minutes as strike partner Matthew Fitzpatrick challenged in the air. And it left Purkis with a sight of goal from which he took full advantage to smash home an angled drive in the 1-1 draw.

Purkis highlighted the words of his manager, celebrated former Irish League striker Gary Hamilton.

“I’m delighted to get on the scoresheet again...but we are a bit unfortunate not to go and get three points, I thought in the second half we were the far better team,” said Purkis on Sky Sports. “The first 20 minutes or so it took us a while to get into the game.

“I thought the goal was always coming and it’s unfortunate we couldn’t go and grab a second.

“The manager has been shouting at me for weeks to always gamble off Matthew Fitzpatrick.

“He told me to go for it as you can get five or six extra goals off it.”

With 500 spectators granted access to the ground in the aftermath of Northern Ireland’s recent coronavirus-led lockdown, Glenavon players had plenty of motivation from the stands.

And two first-half penalty decisions which went against the hosts had the supporters shouting in frustration as Ryan O’Reilly appeared fortunate to escape punishment following handball then a slide tackle within minutes.

Lurgan Blues substitute Conor McCloskey hit the crossbar with a long-range drive at 0-0.

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