Enniskillen Rangers 2 Lisbellaw 1

Enniskillen Rangers defeated Lisbellaw United for the fourth time this season as they maintained their three point advantage at the top of Division One with a narrow 2-1 victory.

Jordan McClure gave Rangers the lead on the stroke of half time, but Aaron Lindsay struck back for Lisbellaw on the other side of the break before McClure snatched a vital winner for Michael Kerr’s side.

The Rangers’ manager admitted they were pushed all the way by Lisbellaw.

“They threw everything at us,” acknowledged Kerr.

“It was a very tough game and a hard earned three points. We knew they would have been saying that they had lost three times to us and to make sure it wasn’t four. We knew it was going to be a tough battle, and it was, but I was glad to get the win and I was glad to get the points.”

The victory keeps Rangers top of the table and Kerr is expecting the battle for the title to go all the way to the end of the season, but for now the club are turning their attention to a Mulhern Cup semi-final against Tummery.

“The league is a three way race now and it is going to be a tight one because we all have to play each other as well,” he said.

“There is a lot of football to be played and 12 points is up for grabs for us, but the main focus for us now is the Mulhern because we have no game until next Thursday. It’s nice to be able to focus on the cup and it is one we are looking forward to. We definitely want to go a step further than last year when we got beaten in the semi-final.”

Goal scoring chances were scarce in the first half of the match, with Rangers being denied a penalty after a they claimed a shot from Jason Keenan was handled.

Keenan then fired over the crossbar, with Lisbellaw’s best chance coming from a long range effort that sailed wide of the post. With the game entering added time at the end of the first half the home team took the lead when Stuart Rainey, Keenan and Joel Byrne combined to set up McClure at the back post, with his shot across the keeper finding the back of the net.

Lisbellaw responded almost immediately after half time with an Aaron Lindsay shot going in off the inside of the post, but Rangers scored the winning goal with 20 minutes remaining.

Rainey’s fierce shot was saved by Josh Brownlee, but the rebound fell for Keenan and he squared the ball for McClure to tap in.

Lisbellaw applied pressure in the closing stages of the game, but the Rangers defence held firm to take the victory.

Rangers had approached their midweek clash on the back of a vital 2-0 win against Beragh Swifts.

Kerr’s high scoring team netted after 16 minutes when Ciaran Smith threaded a pass between the centre back for Kyle Deery to slot past Adam Wood.

Swifts were then undone by a second goal late in the game after Stephen Browne had been dismissed for a second yellow card.

Right back Justin Palmer carried the ball forward and cut infield before sliding a pass through for Willie Burleigh. The substitute had only been on the pitch for two minutes as his attempted cutback was deflected past Wood by a defender to seal the win for Rangers.

Lisbellaw had a comfortable 6-0 victory against basement club Castlederg United on Saturday.

Sam Lindsay opened the scoring after 16 minutes and Scott Johnston made it two before half time.

Richard Woods added a third two minutes into the second half, and Paul McGrath made it four 10 minutes later.

Paul Elliott grabbed the fifth and McGrath got his second and his team’s sixth to wrap up a comfortable win.