Yellow card controversy has Ports seeing red

Stephen Murray provided the third and winning goal for Annagh

A deserved 3-2 win for Annagh United against neighbours Portadown was overshadowed by a yellow card controversy. Shortly after Stephen McCullough had reduced the home side’s lead to 3-2 in the 69th minute, a foul on Ryan Mayse ended in a melee with pushing and shoving as tempers were raised. Referee Mark Dillion let things settle before calling Conall Young over to him and raising the yellow card to the Annagh defender. Young had already been booked in the first half and referee Dillon appeared to follow Young and raise the card again pointing in his direction.

Annagh manager Ciaran McGurgan immediately substituted Young, and the United boss admitted afterwards that he was expecting the red card to appear, “We weren’t sure to be honest, we saw the referee flashing a yellow card, but he was standing with Stephen Murray, however he looked as if he showed it to Conall.”It had all started so well for the visitors at after just six minutes a long ball from Altintop found Lee Chapman and as he cut inside Taylor he looked up and saw the unmarked Teelan on the six-yardline, where Teelan fired home the opener. The lead was short lived with Annagh hitting back just seven minutes later in a carbon copy goal when Scott McCullough found theunmarked Ryan Swan and he swept the ball past McCarey.The home side took the lead seven minutes from the break with yet another identical move, this time Evans was the recipient of Taylor’s cutback from the by-line and running unmarked into the box he gave McCarey no chance as he stuck out a boot to get on the end of the cross and slide it into the corner of the net.The game looked to be beyond Portadown on 64 minutes with Annagh’s well-rehearsed move making the scoreline 3-1 to the homesters. Swan provided the cutback and Murray in acres of space gave his side a two-goal lead. Within three minutes it was game on again for Portadown when McCullough rose to head home, leaving Craughwell stranded in the Annagh goal.Try as they might, Portadown couldn’t find the slice of luck they needed as they peppered the Annagh goal in the closing stages. The Championship side clung on to record a memorable victory against their hometown rivals.Portadown coach John McAllister accepted that his team were second best on the day, “I don’t think we approached the game, certainly in the first half, in the right manner. I felt we were far too direct at times, and we weren’t patient enough.”Annagh manager Ciaran McGurgan was elated with his team’s display, “I though we played really really well… and overall, we were deserved winners. I thought our defence was super and we were very clinical when we got our opportunities”Annagh United: Craughwell, Kerr, Finnegan, Upton, Calvert, Young(Ximenes), Donnelly, J.Evans(Murray), McCullough, Taylor, Swan(Oppong). unused subs: McKeown, H.Evans, Rogers, TeggartPortadown: McCarey, Chapman, Altintop, D Wilson, McCullough, McCartan, Thompson(McElroy), Ukek(Mayse), Wylie(Minzamba), Teelan, Obhakhan(Fyfe). Unused subs. Wright, Redman, Traynor