Lisbellaw United 0 Tummery Athletic 1

Tummery Athletic moved to the top of Division One for the first time this season with a one goal victory over Lisbellaw.

Callum Hunter scored the only goal of the game in the first half, with the Tummery defence keeping their sixth consecutive clean sheet to secure all three points.

“It was a great win away from home against a good Lisbellaw side who never stopped pushing until the final whistle,” said Tummery manager Kevin McAleer.

“Drumad is always a tough place to come and get a result so to come away with three points we are delighted. We weren’t at our best by a long stretch but when you can underperform and still come away with a win it’s a massive boost.”

Kyle McCleery felt his Lisbellaw team deserved to get something from the game after a strong second half showing.

“Tummery shaded the opening half an hour in terms of possession, but they hadn’t created a big pile up until they scored,” he said.

“It was quite a cagey first-half but in the second-half I thought we were very good. We were on top for long spells. We spent a lot of time in their half, but we struggled to break them down. We huffed and puffed and forced a lot of corners and crosses into the box but they were defending well. We had a couple of glorious chances at the end to get a point which would have been a fair result. I feel we deserved a point out of it after our second-half performance, but it just wasn’t to be.”

The defeat leaves Lisbellaw still searching for a league win five games into the season, but McCleery is confident their first victory is not far away.

“I look back at all the games we have played in the league and I can’t understand how we still haven’t got a win under our belts. It’s a really strange one. I feel like over the last couple of weeks especially we have been playing well, and some of the games that we have lost we have dominated for spells.

"We haven’t been ruthless enough and put teams to bed, and we have gone on to regret it in most of the games, but hopefully it will turn soon for us.”

In a closely contested first half there was little goalmouth action, with Lisbellaw’s best opportunities coming from two free kicks.

Nathan Hunter in the Tummery goal touched the first around the post, and the second was deflected wide by the defensive wall.

Shea Devlin was a constant outlet for Tummery down the left and he was instrumental in the away side’s opening goal after 33 minutes. He powered past a defender on the wing and cut inside before picking out Hunter, who took a touch before slotting past Josh Brownlee.

Scott Moutray volleyed wide for Lisbellaw just before the break and Devlin had a good chance to double the lead for Tummery in the second-half, but Lisbellaw were looking increasingly dangerous as the match progressed.

The Tummery defence was dealing with a succession of balls into their penalty area and with minutes left Philip Beacom failed to make proper contact with a header six yards from goal.

The ball fell to Peter Armstrong a yard out but the ball got caught under his feet and Hunter was able to claw the ball clear, with Woods’ follow up blocked on the goal line.

Scott Johnston was dismissed after picking up a second yellow card late in the game, with Tummery holding on to take the win.