Late goal sinks Newry City at Glenavon as gap at the bottom extends to five points

A late Stephen Teggart goal denied Newry City a vital point at Mourneview Park on Saturday.

With the game poised at 2-2 on 90 minutes, the former Portadown winger scored what proved to be the decisive goal.

The gap between the Danske Bank Premiership’s bottom two has now stretched to five points after Ballymena United won 3-2 away to Loughgall.

Adam Salley was unlucky not to break the deadlock on eight minutes when he capitalised on a mistake by Glenavon defender Calum Birney. He bore down on goal and hit a powerful shot, only for Gareth Deane to parry the ball away.

The windy conditions provided by Storm Kathleen were making life difficult for both teams, in particular the corner kick takers. City found that out the hard way as two of their corners floated beyond their intended targets.

Conor Mitchell made an outstanding save on 12 minutes to push a Jack Malone shot over the ball after the Glenavon midfielder tried his luck from the edge of the box.

A short time later Mark Haughey’s glancing header from a Niall Quinn corner was cleared off the line by a City defender.

Glenavon went in front on 26 minutes after substitute Gavin Hodgins, who was on for the injured Aaron Prendergast, was fouled. Winger James Doona’s curling effort from a little more than 25 yards beat Mitchell, who was scrambling to get across the goal line.

There was controversy just before half time when Salley advanced on goal and appeared to go down under a challenge from Deane. Referee Keith Kennedy ordered the attacker back onto his feet and issued him with a booking.

Newry looked to get back on level terms at the start of the second half and a Darren King header came close to restoring parity after the big defender connected with a Georgie Poynton free kick.

At the other end Quinn looked to double the Glenavon advantage but his header from a Doona cross was straight at Mitchell.

With a little over an hour played a little bit of magic from Salley got both teams back on an even footing. He jinked past two Glenavon defenders, doing well to stay on his feet, before striking past Deane who could do nothing to prevent the effort going in.

Glenavon retook the lead on 70 minutes when Gavin Hodgins raced onto a ball over the top from Stephen Teggart. The striker’s effort across goal beat the outstretched Michell.

Newry refused to stay down and on 77 minutes parity was restored. A free kick by Jamie McDonagh - who had been on loan at Glenavon at the start of the season - was taken in front of the travelling supporters. An initial shot was tipped away by Deane but Barney McKeown was in the right place at absolutely the right time for City to nod the ball home.

But, as the game rolled around to 90 minutes, City’s hearts were broken as Hodgins worked hard to create an opportunity for Teggart, whose low left-footed drive squeezed under the goalkeeper.

Glenavon: Deane, Birney, Toure, Haughey (Ward 58), Snoddy (Teggart 58), Malone, Quinn, Prendergast (Hodgins 14), Garrett (Doran 58), O’Sullivan, Doona. Subs not used: Byrne, McCloskey, Wallace.

Newry City: Mitchell, King, Healy, McKeown, McCaffrey (Bagnall 75), O’Connor (McDonagh 60), Carroll, McGovern (McDonagh 60), Salley, O’Brien, Poynton. Subs: Maguire, Moan, Mooney, McGovern.