WITH Saturday's torrential rain, Glenavon's second-string managed to get just 45 minutes of football before the referee called time at a rather moist Mourneview Park.
Following the game, manager Neil Adair was frustrated at the unsettled start to the season.
“To be fair to the referee, he was right to start the game,” said Adair.
“The pitch was obviously wet and was a bit soft but it was OK to start. Howeve
r, it very quickly appeared that we weren’t going to get the game finished at all and it developed into a total farce.
“It was another damp squib and we feel that the season hasn’t kick started yet at all but it’s just a matter of getting a run of games in. That’s football I suppose.
“Player safety is obviously the first and foremost concern and it was very dangerous for both sides. The referee spoke to me on the way in at half-time and said that he would have to look at the pitch at the other side of the break.
“Tim McCann from the Glens and I walked around the pitch with the ref and it was obvious that we weren’t going to get the game back on at all. We all agreed to call it quits then.”
“We were 2-0 down at the time and deservedly so. However, if we had come out in the second half in the same way that we had finished the first we may well have got something out of it.
“We were hit by two early goals; two crosses caught us out. At the end of the day, the result was totally irrelevant where the safety of the players was concerned,” he said.
As if the start of the season hadn’t been annoying enough for Adair, it remains to be seen whether his side will have a league fixture to look forward to this weekend.
But Adair is sure to be keen to get a match this weekend as his many new signings will need game time to gel together.
“We’re due to play Crusaders this weekend but if they win their Steele and Sons Cup match on Wednesday evening they’ll be playing the next round on Saturday and we’ll have no game at all.
“As far as the playing side goes, I think the team that we had on Saturday contained just two or three players that we had last year. It has been a real re-building job and it’s going to take a wee bit of time for things to settle.”
Meanwhile, Eamon Murray appears to be on the road to recovery from the injury which kept him out of the senior side’s trip to the Oval last Saturday,
“Eamon started wide right and did reasonably well but it certainly wasn’t a day for ball-players like him,” added Adair.
The full article contains 495 words and appears in Lurgan Mail newspaper.
