Forrest is top of the tree as Garvey book final place

Garvey fully deserved their win but again could not kill off their opponents with a second goal and they nearly suffered as Annadale had a scoring chance in the last seconds of the game.

With Brian Waring back in the squad but still missing Mark Raphael and Timmy Cockram, Garvey, through Andy Forrest had a very early chance to take the lead but the striker took too long over his shot.

However, an opening penalty corner was forced in the third minute but Steven Arbuthnot’s drag flick was calmly dealt with by Annadale keeper Johnny Moore.

A second set piece came in the fifth minute but this time after a save for Greg Thompson, Peter MacDonnell’s second phase shot was also parried by Moore.

Frazer Mills shot past the post for Annadale in the sixth minute and in the 13th they forced their first penalty corner. Their effort was also without menace and was easily blocked by John Tormey in the Garvey net while in the 13th minute, Tormey made a great interception at the edge of the circle to save Garvey’s defence.

Garvey, who were well on top as half continued, could not make the best of their superiority when they forced another brace of penalty corners but on both occasions, Arbuthnots efforts were fruitless.

A quick Annadale break in the 23rd minute also caught Garvey napping but no shot resulted but they did gain themselves a second penalty corner in the 25th minute which Tormey did well to save with his stick.

A fierce reverse cross by Greg Thompson and a good move between Andy Forrest and Stuart McNiece all ended in nothing and a 30th minute penalty corner won by Peter MacDonnell led to Thompson blasting his shot past the upright while the fourth and fifth corners in the last two minutes of the half led to scrambles in the Annadale goal mouth but no goal resulted leaving the game poised at 0-0 at the interval.

Annadale got into the game immediately after the restart with their third penalty corner which Brian Waring did well to take off the line but Garvey only had to wait until the 42nd minute to grab the goal which was to settle the tie.

It came from Garvey’s sixth penalty corner which was half hit at the edge of the circle to find Andy Forrest at the right hand post and he saw the ball over the line. A minute later Daniel Buser almost doubled the score line when he almost caught Johnny Moore out with a neat deflection but the agile keeper got a stick to the ball.

Garvey were well on top of the game at the three quarter stage but hard as they tried, they could not finish off a stubborn Annadale team which was always looking for a goal on the break.

Garvey’s seventh penalty corner in the 56th minute was well struck by Arbuthnot but again Moore was equal to the effort as he was when Philip Stirling and Greg Thompson created a chance in the 63rd minute. Andy Forrest had the chance to seal the game in the 67th minute but after great work down the right wing, he shot into the side netting with time to spare.

With the staunch handful of Garvey supporters nervous of the fragile situation, the match entered it,s last seconds and the afternoon might well have been totally different if John Edgar had scored in the 70th minute; however Garvey had done enough to take the tie and will now play Cookstown in the final on Boxing Day at Comber Road. Cookstown were 3-1 winners over Banbridge.

Garvey, still struggling to score goals are walking a ‘narrow line’ at the moment and their problems could be exposed next Saturday when they travel back to Cookstown to play their second Premier League match.

A radical improvement in form is necessary if the league points are to be secured as Cookstown will do Garvey no favours as they stride to retain the Premier title.