Oval stalemate as Glentoran fail to take advantage of Glenavon red

They have lost valuable ground following a scoreless draw against gutsy 10-man Glenavon at the BetMcLean Oval, leaving their Gibson Cup chances hanging by a thread.

Rodney McAree’s boys are now 16 points behind runaway leaders Larne, although they have played two games fewer – surely their race is run?

Glentoran’s consolation is the fact that they have silverware to play for – they face Crusaders in an Irish Cup quarter-final at Seaview.

Glenavon had to play the final 16 minutes with only 10 after Jordan Stewart was dismissed following an ugly brawl.

Although they bossed the game, Glentoran just couldn’t break down a resolute Glenavon defence.

The Glens should have been in front after only six minutes as Jay Donnelly produced a wonderful cross from the right, which was met by Terry Devlin, whose point-blank header forced goalkeeper Rory Brown into a brilliant save.

Devlin was the guilty culprit again nine minutes later, this time he met a Rhys Marshall delivery that produced another save by Brown, who managed to scoop away the effort, leaving veteran defender Sean Ward to tidy up.

Seconds later Donnelly was only inches away from turning in a cross from Conor McMenamin following great work by substitute Junior – on for the injured Niall McGinn.

Devlin missed another big opportunity five minutes prior to the interval when he volleyed a Bobby Burns cross high and wide.

Glenavon had to wait until first-half injury time to get a sight of their opponents’ goal but Jack Malone failed to capitalise on a little piece of magic on the left from Stewart.

It was the visitors who carried the threat after the restart, with Matthew Fitzpatrick managing to hold off a challenge from Luke McCullough before rifling in a fierce shot that Aaron McCarey saved at the second attempt.

Then Stewart produced at little piece of trickery only to see his cut-back hoofed clear by Hrvoje Plum with Malone ready to pounce.

But normal service soon resumed with McMenamin forcing Brown into a smart save and, in a similar move seconds later, he blasted wildly over the top.

The game erupted for all the wrong reasons 16 minutes from time when an ugly brawl broke out which resulted in multiple bookings before Stewart was given a straight red card.

McMenamin then cut in from the right only to see his shot whacked off the line by Conor Kerr.

GLENTORAN: McCarey, McCullough, Wilson, Burns (Purkis, 79), Marshall, Donnelly, Singleton, Devlin, McMenamin, Plum (McCartan, 61), McGinn (Junior, 22).

Subs (not used): Webber, Murphy, Crowe, Wightman.

GLENAVON: Brown, Kerr, Birney, Snoddy, Fitzpatrick, Doran, Rogers, Garrett (Baird, 77), Malone, Ward, Stewart.

Subs (not used): Matthews, O’Connor, Norton, Lynch, Prendergast, Bradley.

REFEREE: Ben McMaster.