Irvinestown Wanderers 0 Killen Rangers 4 

Irvinestown Wanderers suffered their fifth consecutive league defeat as they went down 4-0 to Killen Rangers at the Bawnacre.  

Wanderers held out for forty minutes but then conceded twice before half time with Jamie Sproule and Tristan Roberts giving the visitors a two-goal advantage at the break, and in the second half, a second from Roberts and one from Gary McGuigan extended Killen’s unbeaten run to five matches. 

Wanderers’ manager Darren Higginbotham has urged his players to keep believing as they go through a difficult spell.  

“Our attitude on the day wasn’t what I would expect,” he conceded.  

“It wasn’t necessarily a bad attitude, but we accepted defeat before we had really started.  

"We never got going in the game. We never passed the ball well enough, we never created enough. The reality of the situation is that that cannot happen.

"I said after the Enniskillen Town defeat that there was a way to lose a game of football, and on Saturday we dipped below what was acceptable. We can never accept that. It was a difficult day.

"A poor day for us, and one we must learn from. We cannot have these days replicated because otherwise, it becomes a problem.  

"We can’t sit and wallow. Every point is vital. The sooner we deal with these reoccurring issues, then hopefully the sooner we start picking up points. It’s a frustrating period.

"Everyone is frustrated and no one is more frustrated than me, but we have to stay as positive as we can and keep working hard and hopefully, our luck will turn soon.”

Wanderers’ poor run of results has coincided with a lengthy list of players who are unavailable and injured, and the manager is hoping their form will pick up when established players return to the squad.

“We are just trying to be as competitive as we can at the moment,” he said.  

“I’m not going to criticise and talk about the guys that are missing because that is unfair on the guys who are coming in.  

"They are giving everything they can. They are doing their utmost to get us points on Saturdays and I don’t think that would be fair on them, but Saturday was just a poor day, and we can’t accept that as a team or as a club.

"It’s all about trying to live and learn and take our experiences into next week.” 

Wanderers created few goalscoring chances in the first half but were holding onto a clean sheet until they conceded three minutes before halftime.

A long-range effort from Killen was saved by Jerome Carleton, but Jamie Sproule, who appeared to be in an offside position, collected the rebound and found the bottom corner of the net to give Killen the lead.  

The second goal arrived in the last minute of the half. Goalkeeper Jerome Carleton came to claim a long free kick into the penalty area, but Killen got to the ball first and a header into the path of Roberts allowed him to tuck the ball in from three yards out. 

Roberts then started and finished Killen’s third after 64 minutes, playing a one-two before slotting past Carleton. McGuigan sealed the victory with a close-range header from a left-wing cross.