Enniskillen Rangers 1 Strathroy Harps 0

Enniskillen Rangers kept themselves right in the hunt at the top end of the table with a deserved 1-0 win over Strathroy Harps at the Ball Range.
A deflected Darren Higginbotham 82nd minute strike settled this occasionally tempestuous affair that had two flashpoints that saw three red cards flashed by referee
Rangers’ Mark Cutler and Strathroy’s Cathal McTeggart were dismissed after Cutler left a leg in on McCrory as he cleared the ball and a full scale melee ensued. When the dust settled the referee flashed two red cards to the main protagonists.
Then in 94th minute,Tommy Murphy of Strathroy was given a red card as tempers frayed when the Harps were denied a penalty in the final throes of the encounter.
Overall though and taking the football into account, Rangers deserved this narrow win, creating a couple of clear cut chances and controlling possession for large parts of a tight game.
“I was confident going into the game and I felt if we played well we would win and that’s what we did. I thought we controlled the game and it was a real team performance,” said ‘Gers boss Michael Kerr.
On the late penalty incident, Kerr added: “They felt that they should have had a penalty but that doesn’t concern me. Maybe we got a lucky break on this occasion but I certainly felt that over the 90 minutes we deserved the win.”
The game started slowly as both teams settled into the game.
Cathal McTeggart shot over from left hand side and Michael Logue headed over for Strathroy before Rangers created the best chance of the first period.
William Burleigh played an excellent ball through the middle of the Strathroy defence to put Andy Johnston in but Strathroy keeper Gareth Johnston saved with his legs.
Mark Cutler then fired over a great cross that just eluded an unmarked Adam Wallace before Aidy McCaffrey fired over from 18 yards when well positioned.
Both sides lost influential players as James Turley and Tony Quinn had to leave the field of play in the first period with injury as the game remained deadlocked at the break.
The second half started with the melee reducing both sides to 10 men and Strathroy enjoyed a bit of possession with Gareth McCrory causing a few problems but Leon Carters and Neil Coulter held firm.
Rangers started to get on top with Ciaran Smith starting to get on the ball more.
Higginbotham had a great chance when the ball was slipped through following great work by influential substitute Christopher Currie. Higginbotham swivelled ten yards from goal but his shot was straight at Johnston.
Then Rangers won a disputed corner which Currie fired in at the near post and Coulter just missed getting a touch as Strathroy headed behind.
From this corner the ball was headed clear to Smith who played the ball wide to Higginbotham whose shot from the right hand side of the box deflected of McCrory and past a stranded Johnston for 1-0 with eight minutes remaining.
Rangers were holding out with a degree of comfort as Jerome Carleton easily claimed a couple of high ball.
That was until the 94th minute when Rangers lost possession after a free kick and a long ball played in Benny Boyle who went down in the box under pressure from Coulter and David Crozier but referee Gilchrist adjudged no foul and seemed to be impeded.
He then dished out the red card to Murphy, blew the final whistle and had to escorted off the pitch by Rangers officials as Harps’ Aidy McCaffrey remonstrated relentlessly.
Harps manager Seamus Fanthorpe was in no doubt that the referee ‘bottled’ the decision at the death.
“He said he didn’t see it but he must have been the only one who didn’t see it. He bottled it, it’s as simple as that and it’s disappointing because the league can come down to small margins as we know from last year when we were pipped by a point.     We just have to deal with it,” he said.
Fanthorpe did accept though that Rangers were the better team on the day.
“On the balance of play, Rangers were better than us. That’s our first defeat in 22 competitive games so we’ll just have to dust ourselves down and go again,” he added.
The three points keeps Rangers in contention at the top end as are Strathroy.