Lisnaskea Rovers 1

Strule United 2

Lisnaskea Rovers’ frustrations continued as they lost out to table topping Strule United despite leading for much of the game. A first half goal from player manager Darren Graham gave the home side the early advantage and despite the gap between the teams in the league table it looked as though Rover’s would hold on for all three points, but goals in the seventieth and eightieth minute turned the fixture on its head and maintained Strule position at the top of division two.

“We definitely deserved at least a point and we should have got something out of it but goals win games,” said Rovers’ manager Graham. “We just couldn’t get that second goal that would have got us the draw. Even their manager was saying he couldn’t understand how we are sitting second from bottom. We are getting no luck and it just isn’t going our way at the minute, but I can’t fault the boys for their efforts. We were all dead on our feet coming off the pitch. I know we are sitting second from bottom but I know on our day we can compete with anyone in that division and we have nothing to fear. Every game we have either thrown it away ourselves or made stupid mistakes and that is why we have lost it. I have no bother saying that if we hadn’t made those stupid mistakes we would be up at the top of the division. We are the top goal scorers but we are probably the worst at conceding as well and it has all come from stupid individual mistakes bar a couple of them.”

In an entertaining first half both sides had chances in front of goal, with neither team able to make any of their early chances count. Both sides had claims for goals when the ball came within inches of crossing the goal line. First a Strule effort was hacked away from danger with the referee ignoring the United appeals, and later in the half Rovers thought they had taken the lead when a scuffed Jason Flanagan effort somehow squirmed through the keeper’s legs, but he recovered to pounce on the ball with the referee once again deciding the ball had not crossed the line.

In a hard fought encounter United were fortunate to remain with ten men on the pitch after a reckless challenge on Shane Ingram in the first half, and later in the game Rovers’ Shane O’Neill could have received his marching orders but remained on despite going into a tackle with his studs showing.

The breakthrough came for Rovers two minutes before the half time interval when Shane Ingram burst down the left wing and evaded several defenders before cutting into the penalty area and pulling the ball back for Graham to fire a shot past the keeper at the near post.

Strule responded well and Lisnaskea were forced to absorb some pressure, but the away side got their equaliser with twenty minute remaining when they drilled a free kick past the keeper.

Ten minutes later they sealed all three points with a long range effort that lifts then four points clear at the top of the table.