Ten men Glebe Rangers Old Boys lose in league opener

It was visitors Millburn who took the lead after 20 minutes after a long ball wasn’t dealt with by Glebe’s defence and their striker slotted home past the advancing McBride in goals.

Glebe equalised 10 minutes later when Paul Holmes netted a free kick from 25 yards into the top corner of the net. The game which was evenly matched took a dramatic turn when Glebe’s McFetridge was shown a straight red card 5 minutes from half time for kicking out at an opponent and the half ended all square.

The Glebe had to reshuffle their team for the second half and seemed quite comfortable with 10 men and they could have gone in front when Bellingham struck the post from a corner with 15 minutes left. Unfortunately for GlebeOB, with 10 minutes left Millburn broke down the left and crossed for their striker to score.

Glebe’s protests for offside were turned away by the ref and the match ended 2-1 to Millburn.

All credit to Glebe for battling so long with 10 men and credit to Millburn for a entertaining game.

After the game Manager Ian Bellingham said: “I thought we were starting to take control of the game once we equalised but the sending off changed the game completely.

“Having said that many teams would let the heads drop after a sending off like that but full credit to my players, they gave me everything they had and so I can’t ask for much more than that.

“I will be expecting us to bounce back next week and get our season started properly and defend our title in the way I kn ow we can.

“Obviously this week wasn’t the start we were looking for but we have agreat bunch of players at Glebe Rangers Old Boys and they have the passion, effort and commitment that’s needed to come back from this week’s defeat and to get back on track.

“This isn’t an easy league and we don’t take any team for granted.

“We need to be focussed for every game and to eliminate any poor discipline because as we saw this week it can cost valuable points.

“We have a good bunch of players and there is a lot of good football to come from over the next few weeks.”