Enniskillen Athletic 1-3 Lisbellaw United

Lisbellaw United maintained their Mercer League title push with a 3-1 win over Enniskillen Athletic at the Lakeland Forum on Saturday.  

Goals from Scott Moutray, Sam Lindsay and Jack Foster sealed another important victory for Kyle McCleery’s side as they sit six points behind league leaders Enniskillen Rangers with two games in hand.

Despite gaining all three points, manager McCleery said there is plenty for his players to improve upon when they go up against Irvinestown Wanderers next time out.

“I think it was a really poor game of football if I’m honest,” he said. “We were well below par, and we had six players missing so I’m just glad to get through it and get the points.

"It was our first game in a few weeks, and you could see how rusty we were.”

Both sides had to deal with windy conditions on Saturday and missing a handful of familiar faces but that didn’t stop Lisbellaw from building on their statement win over Enniskillen Town last time out.

Neither side were able to carve out any clear-cut chances with the ball spending the majority of the opening half around the centre of the park and without stringing any great passing moves together.

United’s main threat came through left-back Craig Johnston as he made good use of space out on the left wing, and he would eventually set up the opening goal when he picked his head up to spot Moutray in the box and curled in a cross for the forward to head back across goal at the back post for 1-0.

A lack of quality in the final third limited chances for the sides heading into halftime but United would eventually double their lead with just over 20 minutes remaining as Athletic failed to clear a ball in the penalty area and Lindsay was on hand to drill the ball into the ground and past goalkeeper James Maguire to make it 2-0.

Athletic pushed for a way back into the game with Lisbellaw playing on the counter and a third followed with 15 minutes left as Johnston was again released down the left and a ball across the box was finished neatly by Foster.

Athletic responded instantly when Luke Flanagan turned in the box and found the bottom right corner to make it 3-1.

Emmet Cassidy came close twice to pulling another goal back but Lisbellaw held on to take the three points.