NFC Kesh 2 Enniskillen Town 0
Kesh boosted their title hopes with a pair of 2-0 victories lifting them to within three points of the league leaders with two games in hand.
Ryan Campbell’s side dispatched Killen on Saturday with two goals from the player/manager, and Campbell also opened the scoring against Enniskillen Town on Tuesday night, with Nathan Cashel adding a second as they kept up the pressure on Division One pace-setters Enniskillen Rangers.
Despite their promising league position, Campbell is refusing to look too far ahead as Kesh attempt to win their first-ever Fermanagh and Western league title.
“We are in a nice place, but we just need to keep taking it one game at a time, and then when we get down to the last four or five games we can start thinking about the title,” he said.
“Until then we just need to keep taking each game as it comes and keep racking up the three points. Thankfully at the minute, we are doing that.”
Their latest victory against Enniskillen Town came through a goal in either half, but Campbell was glad they were not made to pay for a succession of missed opportunities in the opening 45 minutes.
“I thought we were going to rue our missed chances,” he admitted.
“In the first half, we had two or three brilliant opportunities. At half-time, I thought we needed to take one of our chances and put the game to bed, and when we got it, it gave us a bit of breathing space.
"In fairness to Town, they put us under pressure in the last 15 or 20 minutes to try to get something out of the game, but our defence was superb and stood strong and dealt with everything.”
Kesh took the lead after 10 minutes when Campbell’s scuffed shot squeezed underneath Town keeper Gary Doherty, giving the striker his 25th goal in just 16 league games.
Campbell and Cashel then both broke through one-on-one with the keeper, but Doherty saved both efforts before Sam Robb blasted over the bar.
Kesh added a second goal four minutes into the second half when Alex Brownlee broke down the right and found Campbell.
His shot was saved but Cashel fired home the rebound from a tight angle to give the Kesh all three points.
The defeat was a setback for Town, who had ended a run of four games without a win with a victory over league champions Tummery Athletic on Saturday.
Manager Rory Judge had bemoaned his side’s wastefulness in front of goal in recent weeks, and once again they failed to score against Kesh, but they had no such problems on Saturday as they fired five past Tummery.
Tummery had taken an early lead in that match when Shea Devlin converted Ryan Hanna’s cross, but Ethan Beresford levelled the scores and Darren Freeman gave Town a half-time advantage.
Frank Wallace beat the keeper at the near post to extend their lead to 3-1, but Tummery pulled one back through Martin Hughes.
Brennan, who was unavailable against Kesh, scored a fourth but again Tummery responded with Blain Campbell and Padraig Dillon pulling them level before Freeman’s late winner.
“It felt like two wins in the one game because we had to do so much to get the game over the line,” said Judge.
“We got to 3-1 up and 4-2 up and kind of threw it away both times, but we kept going until the end. We did what Tummery usually do to teams and scored a late goal and I felt it was deserved.
"We didn’t defend well for their goals, but our attacking play was very much to the fore and I thought we played the game pretty well. We hadn’t won in four games, which I don’t think has ever happened in my tenure, so it was nice to get back on it and do it down there.
"It was good to get the three points when we were up against it.”
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