Lisbellaw Utd 2 Strathroy Harps 1

Lisbellaw United moved ahead of Strathroy Harps in the Mercer League table with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Drumad on Saturday.

The home team had to weather an early storm as Strathroy piled on the pressure from kick-off, but goals from Craig Johnston and Sam Lindsay proved enough to take all three points.

Lisbellaw manager Kyle McCleery admitted they had to withstand a Harps onslaught before they eventually got a foothold in the game.

“I was pleased we got the win, but it was a very close game,” he acknowledged.

“They started better than us. They came out of the blocks well and we couldn’t get into the game at all.

“They were keeping possession well and they looked sharp, and our goal came completely against the run of play.

“Only after their equaliser did we wake up. At half time we knew we hadn’t been playing that well and Strathroy had probably been the better team, but in the second half we came out and were a lot better.

“We had a lot more possession and spent most of the half in Strathroy’s half. We held on fairly comfortably in the end and possibly if anyone looked like scoring again it would have been us.”

After Harps’ defeat to Castlederg United the previous week they came out like a team with a point to prove, but their early pressure came to nothing and Lisbellaw snatched the lead after eight minutes when they capitalised on a mistake in the Strathroy back line.

Opening goal

Benny Boyle miscued a pass to centre-back partner Ronan Taggart and Scott Johnston’s challenge diverted the ball to Craig Johnston who poked it past the outrushing keeper to open the scoring.

Harps continued to dominate possession despite the setback, and they were finally rewarded ten minutes later when a diving header from Paul Lowe levelled the scores.

As the half progressed Lisbellaw started to pose a threat, and they restored their lead after 35 minutes when Philip Beacom won a header in the middle of the pitch and Sam Johnston latched onto the ball and drove a low shot from 35 yards into the bottom corner of the net.

Jack Foster had a shot saved just before the break, and early in the second half Lindsay and Scott Moutray both tested the Harps’ keeper.

The visitors introduced Nathan Sloan from the bench and he almost had an immediate impact with a shot just over the bar, followed by a volley that clipped the top of Lisbellaw’s crossbar with the keeper well beaten.

In the closing stages, Moutray laid the ball back to Johnston but his effort was tipped over the bar as Lisbellaw held on to claim the points and extend their unbeaten league run to three games.

The victory takes them up to fifth spot in the league table, six points adrift of the leaders with a game in hand, and McCleery admits he has been pleased with how they have started their season ahead of what he expects to be a tough test against Enniskillen Town this weekend.

“We have had a good start to the season overall so hopefully we can keep building on that.

“It is shaping up to be a really tight league and anybody is capable of beating anybody.

“Town have had a wee bit of an indifferent start to the season but lately they seem to be going better so it is going to be a tough one for us, but we are going alright as well.

“We are playing decent football and I am pleased with how we are playing, so it is a challenge we can look forward to.”