| Glenavon Manager Tommy Kincaid "thought the team played really, really well."
and it would be hard to argue with this. With the Lurgan Blues adopting
a 4-5-1 formation, Gerard McMahon taking on the lone striker role, there
was never going to be a lot of chances created by the home side. The
encouraging thing was how few chances Portadown were restricted to,
David McAlinden keeping Vinnie Arkins quiet for most of the game.
In the end it was two errors that gifted the Premier League leaders
the goals that saw them through to a sixth round tie against Newry City.
Former Glenavon midfielder, Paddy Quinn, making his first start for
his new team, went close with a great shot from just outside the box
that just cleared the top corner after Glenavon struggled to clear
Feeney's long throw in. Immediately Glenavon replied with a neat passing
move that ended with McKnight curling a shot across goal and just wide
of the far post.
In the 27th minute ex-Lurgan Blue, Marc McCann sent a high looping
cross to the back post but Andy McDonald made a comfortable save from
Arkins' header. A minute later Boyle burst through the middle and
slipped the ball to McCann. Hyndes did well to force him wide and he was
only able to drag a shot across goal and well wide of the back post for
a goal kick.
Glenavon's best chance in the first half fell to Gareth Walsh in the
35th minute but he
shot straight at Miskelly after McAlorum had picked him out with a good
cross-field pass and he outpaced the Portadown defence
with a quick break down the right. Within a minute Portadown went ahead
when, with Glenavon again on the
attack, Gareth Murray gave the ball away to Collins and his pass
released Boyle,
Arkins and Quinn to break through 3 on 1.
McDonald came out but Boyle, out on the left of the goal area, lifted
the ball over him from a narrow angle and Quinn applied the finishing
touch just before the ball crossed the line.
Just before half time Boyle flashed a shot a couple of yards wide and
Arkins brushed the top of the bar with a header from Neill's right wing
corner.
At the start of the second half Portadown started by forcing Glenavon
back but in the 50th minute Walsh made a great run down the right wing,
evading tackles by O'Hara and Collins, but his cut-back from the bye
line was blocked for a corner. In the 57th minute McMahon just got to
Walsh's flick on about 8 yards out but his shot was deflected for
another Glenavon corner.
Just after the hour mark McDonald was almost caught out by a long
free kick from the right wing by Kyle Neill that he just managed to tip
onto the bar with the clearance completed by Barry Reid, making a
welcome return from the shoulder injury sustained against Coagh United
in December. A minute later Hyndes had the home fans on the edge of
their seats as he made a great run with the ball into the heart of the
Portadown defence only to be tripped on the edge of the 'D' by Neill who
was cautioned as a result. McKnight took the free kick and was unlucky
to see it deflected away for a throw in. McMahon also had a shot blocked
for a corner when he got on the end of Topley's back post free kick.
In the 88th minute Neill took a long free kick from wide on the right
wing which McDonald got both hands to but somehow allowed the ball to
slip through them and into the net - the second gift-wrapped goal of the
game. Glenavon should have grabbed a consolation in the final minute
when McMahon made a good run down the inside right channel and sent an
inviting cross into the box that McVeigh just failed to get his head to
when any sort of flick would probably have beaten Miskelly.
Let's leave the last word to Tommy Kincaid - “I think 2-0 flattered them. Maybe we didn’t create as many
clear-cut chances as they did, but Portadown didn’t create that many
either. There’s no doubt that they knew they were in a game today."
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