Premiership run at New Grosvenor ends with defeat

LISBURN Distillery have picked up just two league wins at New Grosvenor all season so perhaps Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Dungannon Swifts came as little surprise.

The Whites signed off their home campaign with a narrow defeat that in truth, should have been by more goals. The Swifts’ couldn’t seem to find their shooting boots though and stopper Billy Brennan really was in top form.

At the other end, Distillery offered little threat, showing all too clearly why they’re sitting bottom of the table.

Caretaker boss Sammy McFadden brought in Dominic Melly, Jonny Harkness and Andrew Ferguson to try and change the side’s fortunes but right from the off, it looked like another defeat would be on the cards.

Dungannon had three Laverys in their starting 11 and, as the Swifts dominated, all three could well have been on the score-sheet before half-time.

The award for the most glaring miss undoubtedly went to Stefan Lavery. With just seven minutes on the clock, how he didn’t open the scoring only he knows. Matt Hazley set Jamie Douglas clear on the left and when he unselfishly offloaded to his strike partner, Lavery somehow put his close range effort wide of the gaping goal.

That didn’t deter the Swifts, who continued to pour forward and it took full-stretch saves from Brennan to deny Chris and PJ Lavery’s low efforts.

On 38 minutes, it was again the unrelated Laverys who tore through the Whites defence. Chris cut inside the defender and when Brennan parried his effort out to PJ, he again looked sure to find the net. But even with Brennan beaten, the Swifts still couldn’t capitalise as Philip Simpson popped up to scoop the effort off the goal-line.

At the beginning of the second period, the Whites at least stemmed the visitors’ attacks. They even managed to test opposition keeper Tuda Murphy although Mikey Withers’ poke on Jordan Hughes’ cross never looked like troubling the Cayman Islands stopper.

Dungannon did eventually regain their attacking flow but Jamie Douglas still couldn’t find a way past Brennan after a swift breakaway. Matt Hazley tested the keeper with a well struck volley too but he was again match to that effort.

In the end, it took the Swifts until the 72nd minute to hit the net, the goal eventually coming through substitute James Costello. The lively PJ Lavery led the break, set Terry Fitzpatrick clear and when he crossed to fellow sub Costello, the forward bulleted a diving header into the bottom corner.

Jordan Hughes did have a chance to earn the Whites a final home point of the season but he couldn’t find a way past Tuda Murphy, meaning it was yet another defeat for Distillery.

And with relegation already confirmed, for now at least, it’s farewell to the Premiership for New Grosvenor.

LISBURN DISTILLERY: Brennan, Ferguson, Harkness, Simpson, Garrett, Forsythe, Davidson, Melly, Hughes, Withers, Boyd.

Subs: Halliday, Gordon, Beggs, Morton, Irwin.

DUNGANNON SWIFTS: Murphy, McKerr, Brennan, McMinn, O’Rourke, Hutchinson, Hazley, C Lavery, PJ Lavery, S Lavery, Douglas.

Subs: Costello, Fitzpatrick, Devlin, Montgomery, O’Neill.