It’s important to avoid football cliches in match reports, But that’s a bit harder when the report is about tonight’s ultimate game of 2 halves as a magnificent Glens second half performance not only avoided the much-mooted hammering but ultimately delivered a comfortable and convincing win in the first Big Two game of the season.
Declan Devine had the good news of Paddy McClean’s recovery from an ankle injury as he and Jay Donnelly returned to the starting lineup that drew with Glenavon last week with Kodi Lyons-Foster and Djair Parfitt on the bench.
The first half started with an incident between James Singleton and Blues captain Jamie Mulgrew that resulted in a yellow card each, then a Linfield goal disallowed for a foul on Marcus Kane.
The fantastic Glens crowd feared the worst on 8 minutes when Joel Cooper put the home side in front. It was a poor one to conceded as the ball bounced between various defenders before finally falling to Cooper who ,made no mistake.
The Blues dominated the rest of the half without adding to the score. In large part that was down to our September Player of the Month Daniel Gyollai who made vital saves from Kirk Millar and Ethan McGee with Fuad Sule on hand to make a clearance from what looked a certain goal in the same incident.
The Linfield defence wasn’t troubled in the same way with the visitors offering up a half chance for David Fisher just wide and a good header by James Singleton from a Danny Amos corner well saved by Chris John.
So there was a palpable sense of relief going in just a goal down at half time. But absolutely no one would have anticipated or predicted what came next.
Half Time: Linfield 1-0 Glentoran
It was a very different Glentoran that started the second half with the focus on using Danny Amos in a forward position on the left size. From the start it troubled the Blues defence with Frankie Hvid heading just over from one of them.
The start of the turnaround came 4 minutes after the break when Jay Donnelly took a pass on the edge of the box and instead of moving forward as anticipated he hit a sweet low left foot shot into the right hand of the Blues goal, giving Johns no chance. Game on! This was the Striker’s 7th goal v Linfield and his 76th for the club. He has now scored at least once in each of what is now his 5th season at the Bet McLean Oval.
The Blues came back and forced another couple of good saves from Big Dan, but their response was dealt a body blow just after the hour when Frankie Hvid jumped above the packed Blues defence to firmly head past Johns to put the Glens in front for the first time.
By this stage it looked that if either team was going to score again it would be us. And it was. With i11 minutes to go Cameron Palmer brilliantly dispossessed Chris Shield and left him for dead as he burst forward to score with a right foot shot. His first goal for the Glens and how sweet that it came against his former club.
There was one more chance when James Douglas, an 82nd minute sub, beautifully played fellow sub Jordan Jenkins through, but JJ was well tackled.
So, one of the most memorable Big Two games in a while ended in a comfortable Glentoran away win. Every player played a massive part in a transformed performance, as did the management team for how they motivated the players to up their game so totally. There’s still plenty to be done at the club in the coming months, but the strength and energy of tonight’s performance should give even the most critical supporters some faith that it can be achieved.
Full Time: Linfield 1-3 Glentoran
Glentoran: Gyollai, Kane (c), Amos, Hvid, McClean, Sule, Singleton, Palmer (Douglas 84), Connolly (Russell 90+2), Fisher and Donnelly (Jenkins 66)
Subs (Not used): Mills, Lyons-Foster, Lindsay, Parfitt
Photographs by PACEMAKER and ADAM HARWOOD