Saturday 13th November

Glentoran 2 Crusaders 0

Young is Back to his Best!!!

If anyone ever doubted the ability of Scott Young they were left eating their words today as Scott Young ran the show in midfield terrorizing the Crues defence in the second half.

The first half was a bore to be quite honest, very little incidents, the odd shot was a treat as the ball was pumped from end to end in the first 45 minutes_the worst first half of the season??  It wasn't far off. The Glens not firing on all cylinders this season looked their normal selves in the first half, neither player on either side made a decent contribution.  The only real talking point was the booking of Chris Walker, the No 9 O'Reilly danced through tackles from Batey and Nixon, and was through on goal before being pulled down by Walker inches inside the box, Walker was very lucky to stay on and got away with a Yellow card and a free kick was awarded. From the resulting free kick O'Reilly fired just wide of Gough's far post.

Half Time Glentoran 0 Crusaders 0

Half Time sub Rainey for Gilzean

In the 50th minute the Glens started the sharpest a beautiful through ball from Young and Hamill blasted straight at O'Hare but the keeper saved well and was cleared to safety. 2 minutes later Rainey ran onto a through ball but his cross field ball was dealt with by O'Hare easily. The Glens really were piling on the pressure now, it seemed that the Crues had not woken up, with the 12 0'clock start, but the Glens certainly had and it was Brian Russell's turn to miss he side footed a weak effort at O'Hare again after a run by Young. The Glens did however break the deadlock in the 57th minute, Scott Young went on a menacing run and threaded the ball across the box, and there was Stuart Elliott to blast in his 10th of the season. Brian Russell then missed another sitter, put through by Young but he tried to chip O'Hare but failed miserably, O'Hare saved comfortably and he pumped the ball up field again.

Pat O'Toole then earned himself a yellow card with a rough tackle on man of the match Scott Young, the wee Scotsman got up after treatment and returned to the onslaught of Glentoran pressure.  On the hour mark, Crusaders finally managed a shot a swerving 30 yard effort by O'Reilly from a free kick forced Alan Gough into an impressive save touching over the bar, 4 minutes later it was 2-0, Young grabbed a much deserved rare goal flicking the ball over O'Hare as he approached him at the near post, he was clearly delighted as was his team mates who decided to join in the celebration. In the 81st minute Russell had his third clear chance only to head off the post with Young to the rebound forcing O'Hare into a smart save. O'Toole then received his marching orders with another rash tackle on Rainey, a second booking and he was on his way.  Russell was substituted in the 83rd minute and received a standing ovation much deserved clearly his best game for the Champions so far, worked his socks off, with McCann replacing him, who did well in his 7 minutes crossing dangerous balls into the box.  Another good sign for Glen Men is the performance of Rory Hamill, he looked much sharper today, along with Scott Young, is this the start of the Glens revival this season??? The second half performance today will be hard to beat they were very impressive at times, creating havoc for Crusaders when they attacked with pace.  Come on the Champions keep it up, and with two clean sheets in a row as well.

Team