Tummery 1 Irvinestown Wanderers 0

Barry Goodwin returned to haunt his former club, as the ex-Irvinestown striker scored the only game of the game to earn Tummery a derby victory over their local rivals.

In a closely contested match, Goodwin’s strike midway through the first half proved the pivotal moment of the game as Tummery bounced back from their opening-day league defeat with two wins in five days.

Tummery boss Kevin McAleer believed his side were worthy of the win despite the slender margin of victory.

“I thought we dominated the game, but at 1-0 you are always only one goal away from dropping points,” he acknowledged.

“I felt we were always in control and our keeper didn’t have many saves to make, and we were definitely the better side, but we need to be more ruthless and more clinical in front of goal.

"Not capitalising on the chances we are creating is something that we need to change because we could get caught out very handy. Our backline kept us in control of the game by limiting them.

"It was a good battle, as a derby always is going to be, and I  thought we did well in those individual battles, but we need to take our chances better against teams down the line.”

“That’s two home games and two wins and two clean sheets. I can’t ask for anything more than that.

"The scoreline maybe didn’t flatter us as much as it might have, but the clean sheet was great for us and we are up and running and can build on that.

Hopefully, we will have a few of the Gaelic lads back soon which will strengthen us even more, so we look forward to that. We are only going to get better.”

Wanderers’ boss Darren Higginbotham was happy with the efforts of his team, and he felt it was just their lack of ruthlessness in front of goal that prevented them from taking something from the game.

“I wouldn’t say we should have won the game, but I felt we could have got something out of it if we had been more clinical,” he said.

“Bar putting the ball in the back of the net, I couldn’t ask for much more out of my lads. We were competitive, we created chances, we defended well, and we restricted Tummery to not that many clear chances.

"They had shots from 30 yards, but in terms of clear chances, there weren’t that many. I was proud of how we performed on the day.

"That isn’t going to get us any points on the board, but the effort, the discipline, creativity, chance creation,  I can’t complain from that aspect.

"We just need to be more clinical in moments, like we were against Lisbellaw on the Tuesday prior.

"I was looking for progress this season, and after the first two showings, I feel there has been progress. I was proud of what the boys  gave me on the day and now we dust ourselves down for another difficult game against Enniskillen Town this weekend.”

Irvinestown created the opening chance of the game when Caolan Ward advanced down the right and cut the ball back from the byline, but Stephen Sheridan’s shot from the edge of the penalty area flew narrowly wide of the post.

The pair combined again moments later but this time Sheridan dragged his shot wide of the post.

Midway through the half, Tummery scored the only goal of the game when Tommy Mullin exchanged passes with Calum Hunter and crossed for Goodwin to side foot in from 12  yards.

Tummery continued to pose a threat down their left wing and Goodwin fired over the bar and also rounded the keeper but could not get the ball out from between his feet before the Irvinestown defence recovered.

Neither team could add to the scoreline in the second half as Tummery clung on to take the win.