Ten men again for Whites

Indeed with the visitors equaliser not arriving until the 91st minute of play on this occasion doubtless the Whites will feel it was two points lost as opposed to one gained.

Distillery were back on home turf for the first time in three weeks, whilst Carrick Rangers were on a good vein of form going into Saturday’s match.

The Whites were hoping to put another three points on the board and got the ideal start when after only three minutes of play saw a flick on being met by a thunderous strike by Martin Jones to take the ball beyond the reach of Rangers keeper Brian Neeson. 1-0 to the hosts, what a start!

A perfect start then for the Whites but after having gone two ahead against the same opposition in last month’s Steel and Sons cup game before eventually losing 4-2 they knew this wasn’t over by a long stretch. The home side battled hard to limit Carrick to half chances and although the visitors were creating chances from distance efforts on goal were few.

Distillery started to drop deep and invite Carrick to pressure the defence but this backfired a little as it led to the visitors to be awarded a penalty as Aaron Harmon was adjudged to be brought down in the box. After having scored all three penalties the last time the sides met there was little doubt on who was going to take the responsibly of taking it as Miguel Chines placed the ball on the spot. Call it karma or whatever you wish but on this occasion, although he sent McBride the wrong way, the ball went wide of the post to raptures of noise around the stadium.

Protesting the decision to award the penalty the Whites McIlhagga picked up a second yellow card and the Whites fans shook their heads awaiting his departure from the field. However somewhat unbelievably the referee allowed play to go on, cue understandable complaints from the Carrick bench. The referee approached the bench, advised that McIlhagga had only been booked once and allowed the game to start again, then two minutes later when the game next halted he had a change of mind and decided that he did indeed have two yellow cards and he then opted to show the whites midfielder the exit door.

Ten men then for the second week running could Distillery grind out yet another nervy win? Carrick started to create gaps in the home midfield as Ryan Kane and Kyle Cherry were allowed to find passes up to their front duo of Chines and Roy for the first time in the game.

Cherry nearly levelled before the interval when he crashed his shot just over, the nerves were jangling with the home supporters as the Amber Army started to create good goal scoring chances when Traynor’s ball found the leaping Chines his header superbly saved by Ryan McBride.

Tommy Kincaid felt it was time for a change at the break taking off Peter Sargent and bringing on Colm Kirgan for more stability at the back as Kirgan can adapt to different positions. The visitors continued to press hard and Rangers fans were celebrating when Ben Roy’s shot hit the net only for it to be the side netting as he blasted a shot agonisiliy wide of the target.

Carrick were so close to equalising as Ben Roy’s rasping volley looked set for the net only for Ciaran Burns to head off the line and clear up into the air and then further incident occurred as Carrick sub Anto Lagan was dismissed for placing his head into a Whites players midriff as he got off the ground following a challenge.

Surely with the game now being ten v ten the Whites could now hold out but it was Carrick who continued to press as Adam Dick nearly notched a leveller when his hot shot was fired wide but in the end it was a set piece that undid the Whites as a flicked on header found ex-Distillery player Aaron Traynor at the back post to drive into the net as the game moved into injury time.

A decent game then at New Grosvenor, a draw being a fair result.