Rangers started brightly and could
have taken the lead when Matty Carson’s flick found David Cushley who tried to
curl a shot into the top corner, but his attempt went just over.
Carson then had an opportunity of his
own when the ball broke to him 25 yards from goal. His strike, however, sailed
straight into the hands of visiting ‘keeper Josh Clarke.
Perhaps the best of the chances came
when the ball ran for Emmett McGuckin who raced towards a one-on-one, though
his touch let him down as Clarke was able to come out and clear the danger.
The away side grew into the game just
before the break and had a good chance to go ahead when Matthew Fitzpatrick went
one-on-one with Aaron Hogg; the ‘Gers goalkeeper making a good save low to his
left to deny the striker.
Hogg had to again be alert less than
five minutes into the second half as he pushed away another Fitzpatrick effort,
this time a near post header.
Proceedings were mostly quiet from
then on, until the final fifteen minutes when a goal started to look more
likely; McGuckin blazing over the bar when picked out by Daniel Kelly the first
sign of that.
Carson was then released down the left
and saw his attempted chip parried by Clarke which gave him the chance to cross
the ball to Reece Glendinning, but he too couldn’t steer it home.
As the minutes ticked away and a draw
looked the likely conclusion, Glenavon found a winner.
Referee Chris Morrison awarded a
contentious free kick to the visitors, much to the dismay of the Carrick bench
and players who felt the Glenavon player had not been fouled.
Substitute Michael O’Connor stepped up
and sent the dead ball into the net off the underside of the crossbar to deny Rangers
a point that would have guaranteed Premiership safety.
Carrick Rangers: Hogg; McMullan
(Forsythe, 45), Surgenor, Ervin, Glendinning; D. Kelly, Cherry (Tilney, 53);
Cushley; Gawne, McGuckin, Carson (E. Kelly, 86).
Unused substitutes: Skeet, Gordon,
Chambers, Waite.
Glenavon: Clarke; Ward, Haughey,
Birney (Waterworth, 78), Wallace; Snoddy (O’Connor, 69), Singleton, Garrett (J.
Doyle, 69); McCloskey (O’Mahony, 24), Fitzpatrick, Campbell.
Unused substitutes: Scannell, Lynch,
Norton.
Referee: Chris Morrison
