Blank faces at the Oval

Glentoran's season was summed up in the space of 90 minutes yesterday according to manager Roy Coyle as his team slipped to third place in the Irish Premier League table.

Coyle put his side's drab scoreless draw with Lisburn Distillery down to a lack of creativity and finishing in a team that is ravaged by injuries.And now the injury crisis has deepened further. Pat McGibbon and Peter McCann missed yesterday's game after picking up injuries against Dungannon at the weekend, leaving Coyle with only 10 recognised first-team players.

On top of that Colin Nixon is now a major doubt for Saturday's trip to Ards and Michael Halliday left the Oval with a suspected broken foot.The striker sustained the injury in the opening minutes of the game and battled through the pain barrier to complete the match.If the break is confirmed Halliday will be sidelined for at least the next month.

While Coyle won't surrender the title until it is mathematically impossible for him to keep the Gibson Cup at the Oval, Linfield's 15 point lead is one that they won't throw away."We've known our problems all season, finishing and creating chances has been a concern," said Coyle."That was very evident again and when you aren't creating chances you won't win matches and we certainly didn't test their goalkeeper enough."

On the few occasions he was tested, Whites goalkeeper Michael Dougherty was more than equal to whatever Glentoran threw at him.Two diving saves in the space of as many minutes shortly before half-time was the extent of his exertions in the opening 45 minutes.A Shaun Holmes shot and Chris Morgan free-kick were each destined for the bottom corner on opposite sides of the goal before Dougherty intervened.

He also comfortably dealt with the few efforts on goal after the break.
Morgan was denied twice more and the most difficult save Dougherty had to make was when one of his own team-mates hit a clearance off Holmes' legs and although he saw it late the goalkeeper made a fine save.

As it turned out the one genuine chance that Lisburn Distillery created was the best of the game and had Conor Hagan managed to get a better contact on the ball with only Elliott Morris to beat after a one-two with substitute Aaron Johnston they may have left with more than just a single point.
"When you aren't winning matches confidence is affected and we are at a low ebb," added Coyle. "A point isn't really any good to us, in any game, but especially at home, we should create more when we have as much possession as we did in this game."

GLENTORAN: Morris, Nixon, Ward, Walker, Parkhouse, Holmes, Browne, Melaugh, Morgan, Halliday, Berry. Subs: Hampton, Manley, Rainey.

LISBURN DISTILLERY: Dougherty, Thompson, Ferguson, McCann, Buchanan, Muir, Kilmartin, Hagan, Armstrong, McLaughlin, Spence. Subs: West, Johnston, Catney.

Referee: Ken Ginnett (Newtownabbey).