Longford City 1
Finnish Harps 1
Longford City 1
Finnish Harps 1
Longford City 1
Finnish Harps 1
Brave Longford Town showed considerable resilience to get back on level terms after conceding an early goal and withstood plenty of late pressure to hold on for a draw against promotion play-off candidates Finn Harps in the First Division match at Bishopsgate on Friday evening.
The first match after the winter break ended in a draw. Patrick Ferry scored for the visitors in the sixth minute, but Jordon Tallon equalized for the midfielders in the 59th minute.
Finn Harps had already won the previous two league games between the teams this season in thrilling five-goal matches, but this dull encounter could not match the excitement of those two games.
In the opening minute of the match, a clever corner from Ferry saw Ryan Rainey run away from his marker, but Rainey fired his shot from 15 yards over the Town bar.
Five minutes later Harps took the lead with a Success Edogun combination with Ferry unlocking the Town defence. Edogun’s low pass from the right found the unmarked Ferry and he slid the ball into the net from close range.
In the 13th minute, Kyle O’Connor’s cross from the left was blocked by Jordan Adeyemo, who headed from 15 yards. However, Harps keeper Tim Oliver-Heimer made a good save and kept his goal intact.
In the 21st minute Edogun and Ferry combined well again and this time Longford escaped with a bit of luck when Ferry’s cross from Edogun’s right hit the Longford post from close range.
In the 27th minute, Serdeniuk headed a free kick from Bastien Hery over the Finn Harps bar and a minute later, Hery’s free kick was deflected off by a Dean O’Shea header that hit the post. It was a close goal for the Donegal club.
The last real chance of the first half came in the 37th minute for the visitors when McNamee’s header went just wide of Jack Brady’s far post, leaving the Town keeper wide.
Finn Harps almost made it 2-0 in the 51st minute when Watson played a beautiful diagonal pass to Edogun, but his shot was saved by Brady.
Two minutes later, Ferry shot wide of Town’s goal, but his shot went just wide.
Longford equalised just before the hour mark when Ross Fay, after excellent preparation, found Tallon with a 13-yard shot that smashed into the Harps net.
Finn Harps then created the next four chances, but Town keeper Brady thwarted the visitors each time.
Jack Brady brilliantly saved a close-range shot from Edogun in the 81st minute and moments later the excellent Longford keeper, so often the saviour in the past, stopped a deflected curling effort from 22 yards by substitute McAteer.
Almost immediately, Brady came to the rescue again when he produced a good save from Max Johnston. Ultimately, with Edogun clear through with only the Town goalkeeper to beat, the cool and competent Brady kept his composure to make a stunning save.
Next up for bottom-of-the-table Longford Town is a trip to the Carlisle ground on Thursday evening to take on Bray Wanderers.
City of Longford: Jack Brady, Mohammed Boudiaf, Viktor Serdeniuk, Dean O’Shea, Ross Fay, Jordon Tallon, Bastien Hery, Karl Chambers, Kyle O’Connor, Francis Campbell, Jordan Adeyemo. subtitles: Adam Wixted for Chambers (80 mins); Emmanuel James for Chambers (88 mins).
Finn Harps: Heimer, Watson, Baba, Makinson, Doherty, Edogun, McNamee, Rainey, Cawley, Ferry and Johnston. Sub: McAteer for McNamee (79 mins).
Referee: Lucas Keating.
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