New look Newry City head to Lakeview Park for tough test against Loughgall

Newry City will be hoping to build on their positive performance last time out against Cliftonville, when they travel to Lakeview Park to take on Loughgall tomorrow afternoon.

City didn’t get any points from the game, losing in the final seconds to a Jonny Addis winning goal, but new manager Barry Gray was happy with what he saw from his team in his first league game in charge.

“We thought that we did enough in the game to warrant getting a point,” he said post-match.

“Going down to 10 men against a good side like Cliftonville is hugely problematic, but I have to give full credit to the players because we’re delighted with their performance levels and what they have taken on board in the last couple of weeks."

Newry’s starting 11 had a new look to it last week with January signings Conor Mitchell, Steven Ball and Brandon Doyle all making their debuts, and on Friday the club announced the arrival of another new face, Jamie McDonagh on loan from Cliftonville.

Brian Healy and Andrew Martin left The Showgrounds this week, with Healy heading to Ballyclare on loan, whilst Martin returned to his old club Banbridge Town.

Tomorrow’s opposition Loughgall are one of the stories of the season in the Premiership, as the newly promoted side have stayed well clear of the relegation battle virtually all season and have a healthy 10-point gap over the bottom two after 25 games.

They have picked up some remarkable results over the course of the season such as a 5-2 win over Ballymena United and a 1-0 victory over reigning champions Larne.

They have also defeated Newry City twice on score-lines of 3-0 and 3-1, with striker Benji Magee – who is the league’s second top scorer – netting a hat trick in their most recent meeting.