Fivemiletown bounce back ahead of cup clash

FIVEMILETOWN United boss Chris McDowell cut a satisfied figure after Saturday’s 4-0 victory at Hanover.

Goals by Conor Courtney (2), Jordan Cadden and Alex Little secured a comfortable win for Town to send the visitors up to sixth in the table.

McDowell was delighted that his players had responded to a defeat to St Mary’s just seven days a earlier.

“ I was glad that we bounced back from that defeat,” said the joint manager.

“Before the St Mary’s game we had won three on the bounce and that reverse was a major disappointment.

“Everything that could have gone wrong that day did go wrong. So it was important to get back to winning ways.

“A couple of wins can make quite a difference in this league; that’s us now up to sixth now.”

Town led through a first half goal by Courtney. A rasping shot by Simon Warrington, who had controlled a Niall McElroy cross, was parried by the Hanover keeper and Courtney was on hand to sweep home the loose ball.

That was all that separated the sides at the interval but in the second half Town found another gear to win with something to spare.

Cadden expertly curled home a free kick from 25 yards before Little glanced home a Kyle Thompson corner.

Courtney completed the scoring when he swooped on a back-pass to slot past the home net-minder.

Next up for United is a second round Marshall Cup game at home to Bessbrook.

Town are defending the prized silverware and McDowell is expecting a tough test from the Armagh visitors.

“Bessbrook have a good cup pedigree when you think back to their Junior Cup exploits and so on,” added McDowell.

“It was important that we’re going into the game with Saturday’s win under our belt.

“The most pleasing thing about Saturday was the fact that we were able to step it up a gear in the second half. At 1-0 we missed three great chances and at that stage I turned around to Barry (Anderson, joint-manager) and suggested it might be another one of those days. Thankfully, though, we came good and secured a comfortable win.”