Enniskillen Town 4 Lisbellaw Utd 3

Enniskillen Town staged a dramatic comeback against Lisbellaw, scoring three goals in the last ten minutes to snatch all three points at St Michael’s Pavilion on Saturday.

Kyle McCleery’s team looked to be heading to the top of the table after a goal from Jamie Coalter and two from Paul McGrath had given Lisbellaw a 3-1 lead, but with time running out Town hit back with three quickfire goals to claim the victory.

Town boss Rory Judge admitted they were fortunate to come out on top after a below par performance in testing conditions.

“To go on and get the win at the end was a bonus because I didn’t think we played particularly well,” admitted Judge.

“I thought at half time we were in trouble. We had the benefit of the wind in the first half and we didn’t do enough with it. I thought we might have needed another couple of goals.

“I thought it was going to be a real rearguard action, but it didn’t transpire like that. They did go 3-1 ahead, and deservedly so, but the wind died a bit and that helped us. Once we got the second goal you could see the players were energised by it.

“At that stage I didn’t think we would win it, but I thought we would get another chance and maybe get out of it with a draw. It was crazy stuff. You have to give the players credit that they kept going. We seem to be coming out on the right end of tight games, which is something you can’t train.

“We are gaining confidence in tight matches knowing we can probably get a positive result.”

Lisbellaw boss McCleery admitted the defeat was a tough one to take.

“I was completely gutted to lose it the way we did, especially as the three points would have left us top of the league,” he said.

“It was an absolute nightmare last ten minutes for us. It came out of nowhere because we were so comfortable until then. I look back on it and I can’t work out where we went wrong or what we could have done differently. It was disappointing to come away with nothing after a reasonably good performance in those conditions.

“I felt we deserved at least a point out of it, but that’s football.”

Lisbellaw started the first half playing into a gale, but despite being on the receiving end of the conditions they looked the more likely to score. Paul McGrath had the first effort on goal when he linked with Sam Lindsay, but his shot was touched over the crossbar by Gary Doherty. They were rewarded for their bright start after 13 minutes when captain Jamie Coalter headed in Scott Moutray’s deep corner.

However, the lead only lasted four minutes before Town responded. Cathal Beacom flicked the ball over the defence to send Conall Quinn racing clear, and he got to the ball ahead of goalkeeper Sam McDonald and lifted it over him and into the net.

Town were looking to take advantage of the wind at their backs and tried to test McDonald with several long-range efforts before the break, but Beacom and Conor Watson failed to hit the target from distance as the sides went into half time on level terms.

Lisbellaw restored their lead just before the hour mark when the ball fell kindly for Paul McGrath in the penalty area and he poked it past the keeper. Within six minutes Lisbellaw were two clear, McGrath curling a shot inside the post from the edge of the penalty area.

Moutray then came within inches of sealing the win with a low drive from 25 yards that came off the inside of the upright. Sam Lindsay reacted to knock in the rebound, but his effort was ruled out for offside, and Town took full advantage of their reprieve.

In the 82nd minute, Town broke down the left and Ethan Beresford’s cross was headed in by Cathal Beacom.

With one minute left of the 90 Town drew level when Frank Wallace got to the byline and cut the ball back for Kane Connor to rifle in, and the comeback was completed in the first minute of added time when Quinn bundled the ball over the line from close range.