Newry City were made to pay the penalty at Lakeview Park on Tuesday night, compounding 96 hours or so where opportunity knocked but they failed to make the most of it.
A goalless draw with Loughgall, who leapfrogged Coleraine into sixth-place with five rounds of Sports Direct Premiership fixtures left until the split, was a real chance for City to close the gap to Ballymena United in the relegation play-off and boost their survival hopes.
In the end, they picked up one point when three was really what they needed.
On 16 minutes, City were awarded a spot-kick when Villagers forward Nathaniel Ferris clattered into Donal Scullion with a raised boot, prompting Adam Salley to assume the mantle from 12 yards and give the visitors a fresh injection of belief during the early knockings of the game.
It didn’t quite pan out that way. German shot-stopper Berraat Turker guessed the intentions of the frontman correctly and dived low to his left to palm Salley’s low penalty to safety.
Upon referee Steven Gregg’s full-time whistle, while the glass-half-full cohort among the Newry faithful may argue it is a precious point gained in their push for survival, results in that four-day span between that affair and the previous Friday could have seen them cut the gap altogether.
Ballymena visited The Marshes and escaped with a point; Noah Stewart opened the scoring on 73 minutes and, while it took a mere three minutes more for Salley to find a leveller, that six-pointer which could’ve seen Barry Gray’s men climb to within three points of Jim Ervin’s Sky Blues instead saw no change in the margin.
Nor any change in the margin for error, which is why Salley – the Championship’s top goalscorer with 27 strikes in 2022/23 when on loan at Ards from Portadown – spurning that attempt from the penalty spot could prove critical come the close.
Had Newry picked up six points from six over those two encounters, they would be level on points with United and the play-off conversation would be touch and go.
But as we stand, with 10 games remaining, you’d have to say Ballymena are in the box seat.
Five points split the sides, underpinned by a tale of what could’ve been on Newry’s part with Gray still winless in the league since taking charge.
Indeed, they haven’t tasted top-flight victory since a Gary Boyle-led City beat Ballymena 2-0 at the Warden Street Showgrounds on October 7.
It equates to a paltry one win in the last 24 and, unless they make the most of key moments going forward, they will drop out of the Premiership in just their second season back.
And with Glentoran, Coleraine, Linfield, Carrick Rangers and Crusaders in their next five, it doesn’t get any easier. Their ambitions of staying will depend on carrying the momentum of performances into those clashes and springing a shock or two where they can – but they’ll be doing it with odds firmly stacked against them in order to achieve that.
What about Loughgall, though. Widely tipped at the season’s start to be scrambling for their top-tier status having achieved promotion as Championship kingpins in 2023, the club housed in a village of just 282 people could fulfil a dream by hosting European football at Lakeview for the first time ever as the continental play-off race reaches boiling point.
Having not played Premiership football for 16 years beforehand, their point on Tuesday will have had the feel of one gained, with Dean Smith’s charges rising above Coleraine into the top half and leading a battle between five clubs from sixth to 10th who are split by just four points.
It feels like crunch time on two fronts, but if an air of woe betide has surrounded Newry of late, the Villagers are soaring.
Image from Noel Moan/Pacemaker.
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