James Singleton’s perfect timing to open Glenavon goal account on derby day

After the Christmas war of attrition at Shamrock Park, this was more a walk in the park as Glenavon waltzed to derby delight.
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Nine-man Glenavon displayed resolve and resilience on the road in December to secure a single-goal success over Portadown.

On Saturday, the home chants of ‘easy, easy’ started at 2-0 with little more than 30 minutes on the clock.

And a 1-0 scoreline similar to the previous Mid-Ulster meeting always looked enough in Lurgan against a relegation-threatened Ports side with a sole shot on target registered on 88 minutes.

James Singleton (left) kicked off the scoring on Saturday in Lurgan as Glenavon enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 victory over Portadown. Pic by Pacemaker.James Singleton (left) kicked off the scoring on Saturday in Lurgan as Glenavon enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 victory over Portadown. Pic by Pacemaker.
James Singleton (left) kicked off the scoring on Saturday in Lurgan as Glenavon enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 victory over Portadown. Pic by Pacemaker.

Glenavon captain James Singleton has clocked up a number of derby dates across around a decade-long club career with the Lurgan Blues and he grabbed the first goal in Saturday’s 3-0 win with his first goal of the season.

Singleton was rewarded for his determination with the decisive touch on Michael O’Connor’s corner-kick on 15 minutes.

Mark Haughey steered home off another corner-kick when Peter Campbell whipped the ball over from the right and Conor McCloskey capped a commanding Glenavon first-half display by drilling home a low drive.

Singleton had a second goal ruled out for offside after the interval but the 26-year-old finished with plenty to celebrate.

“I’ve not scored all season so it was nice to get the goal,” said Singleton. “It was a great ball in by Mick and the goalkeeper seemed to get himself caught under it, so once I saw him go forward I thought he wasn’t making it to catch it so I got my head on it.

“But, more importantly, it was a clean sheet and three points and, especially against Portadown, makes it all sweeter.

“With the wind, whenever Mick was crossing in he didn’t need to put a lot on and it was difficult for them to deal with the corner-kicks.

“They were quite small today so we thought set-pieces would be somewhere we could really hurt them and we scored two and could have had a couple more.

“Last season, Portadown got the first two wins against us then we beat them twice.

“This season we’ve been able to beat them twice and draw the first game of the season.

“Scoring two early goals and going in 3-0 up at half-time probably knocked the stuffing out of Portadown.

“Then in the second half they went down to 10 (Katlego Mashigo red card) but I actually think we got a wee bit sloppy then, which can happen maybe thinking the match is over.

“We were trying the hard pass instead of keeping possession and playing the five-yard pass...but that happens sometimes when 3-0 up and boys look to try something you wouldn’t when 0-0.

“To be fair, Portadown were getting on the ball with 10 men and could have easily just dropped off and let us have it but they didn’t and they pressed us and kept going.

“It’s 10 points from 12 the boys were saying in the changing room...so three wins and a draw over the last four games is not a bad return.”

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