Villagers walk away with heads held high

WHEN Loughgall met Linfield in the Sports Direct Premiership at Windsor Park back on October 28, it finished 5-1 to the David Healy-managed Blues.

Fast-forward to Saturday, January 13 and a Lakeview Park re-match which finished 2-1 to Linfield who - with defending champions Larne breathing down their necks as a result of their 2-0 victory over Crusaders the previous night at Seasview – had to win.

They did – but Loughgall didn’t half make them work and fight for their three points. So, despite losing, a huge number of positives from the hosts’ perspective.

Those who think they know the locals’ manager Dean Smith will be well aware of his description of fixtures against the likes of Linfield or Larne as ‘free hits for us’ or ‘nothing to lose games’. Those who actually know him, however, dismiss such talk in the realisation that he will never go into any match believing it to be mission impossible.

The bookmakers and pundits began writing Loughgall off as soon as they won promotion to the top flight of Irish League football by virtue of having finished top of last season’s Championship pile, promptly installing them as favourites to be relegated.

The canny Smith cleverly and knowingly played along, repeatedly highlighting the gulf between the top and bottom groups of six clubs and their vastly different resources. By so-doing, he appeared to agree with those who had branded clubs like his own as ‘no-hopers’.

But if, for one moment, you believe Smith ever to have said anything remotely like that to his players, clearly you don’t know him, for which reason you are very, very wide of the real mark.

Even after losing 6-0 to Glentoran on Friday, the 13th of October at The Oval and 5-1 to Linfield at Windsor a fortnight later, Smith’s reaction was not to wring his hands or write it off – in his own head, if not publicly - as a lost cause. Instead, he, his coaching staff and the players studied recordings of mistakes which led to the concession of those goals, admitted those for which they were responsible, determined not to repeat them and set about ensuring no such lapses in future.

And that attitude and that appetite saw them frighten mighty Linfield on Saturday, notably in the opening quarter and again in the final half-hour.

Early on Oran Brogan tested Blues ‘keeper Chris Johns with a long-range, on-target strike following an impressive period of possession football which certainly did not sugeest any inferiority complex on the part of the hosts.

On the half-hour, Benji Magee - the Premiership’s second highest goalscorer – showed further evidence for why that is the case when he flashed an effort just wide of the far post.

But having been uncharacteristically subdued for most of the first half, Linfield did what top teams in any level of football tend to do by serving notice of intent. They broke out, whereupon Daniel Finlayson crossed to the back post where Matthew Clarke rose highest to head the ball against the crossbar. It wobbled and, for the first time, Loughgall momentarily wobbled, too.

And that let-off proved to have been purely temporary for barely had the second half started than home defender Tiernan Kelly had the misfortune to head the ball from a Kirk Millar free-kick past his own ‘keeper, Berraat Turker.

Then having taken the lead, Linfield doubled it 10 minutes later with a gem of a right-foot volley from the edge of the box by Millar who first judged the flight of the ball and then met it perfectly – 2-0.

But if the league leaders thought Loughgall would buckle beneath the disappointment of that double-whammy, they were wrong. Just three minutes later, The Villagers halved the deficit through Magee who bagged his 15th Premiership goal of the season following great play by Pablo Andrade. Yes, the ball took a deflection off a Linfield defender on its way into the net, but that does not detract in any way from Andrade’s initial run and then cut-back pass, or Magee’s instinct as a finisher.

Loughgall: Turker, Rea, Murdock, Brogan, Kelly, Andrade, Ferris, Hoey, Patton, Magee, Loughran.

Substitutes: Devine, Carson, Teggart, Norton, Gibson, Carroll, Duke

Linfield: Johns, Finlayson, East, Millar, McClean, Hall, Clarke, Mulgrew, Fitzpatrick, Annett, Archer.

Substitutes: Walsh, McBrien, McKee, McGee, McKay, Doherty, Graham

Referee: Shane Andrews

Loughgall, who are now 8th of the12 runners, host Newry City this Saturday. The border club are rock-bottom with 12 points, their most recent league win having been on October 7 when they beat Ballymena United 2-0.

Loughgall, who have already beaten them home and away, have 28 points - 16 more than their guests. And while – based on their pre-season misjudgement of The Villagers’ prospects - we know that the bookies don’t always get it right, few would quibble with their installation of the hosts as favourites to win this one.