Institute strike in injury time to secure crucial victory over Ballinamallard
Institute 1, Ballinamallard 0
Sean McCarron was Institute's injury time hero after his deflected effort finally broke Ballinamallard's resolve at Brandywell Stadium on Friday night.
It looked like being a night a frustration for Kevin Deery's title challengers with opportunities few and far between in a game that won't live long in the memory. Not that that will matter to Institute! With Portadown putting five past Newington in Shamrock Park on the same night, it looked as if Stute would be letting two points get away until McCarron struck in the FIFTH minute of added time.
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Hide AdPicking up the ball just outside the box following a clearance from a corner, it was last chance saloon but sometimes in football you do get what you deserve with McCarron's strike taking a wicked deflection and wrong footing Ballinamallard keeper Jack Lemiognan who is on loan from Derry City. It was harsh, but nothing more than Deery's side deserved.
Institute came into the game with the chance to close the gap on second placed Dundela who didn't play until Saturday but the opening half lacked both urgency and chances. Ballinamallard started without two of their Derry based contingent, Jamie Dunne and Aaron Harkin both missing and the visitors were forced to play second fiddle for most of the opening half.
With Larne linked Oisin Devlin among the 'Stute substitutes, Kevin Deery employed a central midfield three of Evan Tweed, Liam Mullan and Sean Carlin and that trio allowed the home side to dictate play and build out nicely from the back. It was good to watch but too often the impressive approach play lacked the final pass to prise open a Ballinamallard team happy to sit in and go with a more direct approach.
Indeed it took until the ninth minute for the first chance of note when Carlin won possession deep inside his own and flighted a superb ball through to release Kirk McLaughlin. The Glentoran loanee controlled well but his second touch took him slightly wide although it still took a smart save from Lemoignan to keep him out.
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Hide Ad’Stute threatened again on 20 minutes when a well worked corner routine straight off the training pitch saw Carlin dummy on the edge of the area for Liam Mullan to hit a fierce drive that was deflected just wide.
The sum total of the visitors' efforts were a Simon Warrington snap shot which was easily gathered by Gareth Morrow and a more threatening curling effort from James McGrath which the Stute keeper was relieved to see fly past his far post.
The stalemate continued through the early stages of the second half, the only incident of note coming when Ballinamallard's James McGrath was lucky to escape without a card after appearing to strike out at Sean Carlin following a tackle from the Stute player.
That aside neither keeper was unduly troubled as Deery's men continued to dominate the ball without any end product. That lack of penetration saw the home side introduce experienced striker Sean McCarron for Tiarnan McKinney, a switch that saw the home side go with two up front in a bid to find the breakthrough.