Lowry to the rescue

Limavady United manager Paul Owens has paid tribute to Philip Lowry after the veteran midfielder rescued a point for the Roesiders in a 1-1 draw against Loughgall at Lakeview Park.

Aaron Prendergast fired the hosts in front with 10 minutes remaining before former Linfield and Crusaders man Lowry netted a dramatic equaliser deep into added time.

“It took him a couple of games to get up and running for the scoresheet but since then he’s been scoring week in week out," said Owens.

“He can score all sorts of goals, to do that in the 94 minute, the ‘keeper didn’t even move and Philip put it into the top corner.

“That’s the type of player he is, and probably the go to man at the top end of the pitch at this minute, which is brilliant for us.

“He enjoys the responsibility of it that he has throughout his whole career and we’re very fortunate to have him on the team” he added..

“Overall there wasn’t anything wrong with our performance: for the first half hour we were excellent, but for 15 minutes we didn’t follow the game plan and we suffered a little bit.

“The second half was excellent and the most control that we’ve had in an away game. We made a big error with a back pass that Loughgall took advantage of.

“But the good thing about this group now is that when we go behind there’s no panic, I was trying to get that message on that there is still loads of time, I had full belief that the players would still be able to get us something out of the game - and thankfully they did.

“It was a top performance at a very difficult venue and under the circumstances at the game then I’m more than happy to go down the road again with a point."

It’s a home fixture this weekend for Limavady Utd as they welcome Ards to the Showgrounds.

“We had a difficult run against them last year that everybody spoke about but we righted that wrong earlier this season," continued the Limavady Utd boss.

“We’ll prepare as good as we can this week, they’re a side who are on a difficult run which is sometimes a bad time to face a team.

“But as always we’ll do our homework on them, prepare and hopefully pick up the three points."

Ground sharing at Coleraine

Meanwhile, it has been announced that Limavady United will train and host their home games on the Ballycastle Road for a short period of time while a 3G pitch is being laid in the Limavady Showgrounds.
Roesiders' fixtures at Coleraine in December are as follows:

Limavady vs Armagh - Saturday December 13
Limavady vs Institute - Friday December 26
Limavady vs Annagh United - Wednesday December 31.

“Ideally, we would have liked it to start after Christmas so we could get a Christmas crowd, but it has to be finished before March.

“Coleraine agreed to ground share with us until it’s finished, it’s only for five games until our pitch is going to be ready” added Owens.

LIMAVADY: Gallagher, Riley, Walker, Farren, T. Boorman, (P. Lowry 90+4), S. Lowry, Kennedy, R. Boorman, Butcher, Gaston

LOUGHGALL: Glendinning, Murdock, Wilson, R. Norton, Andrade, Towe, H. Norton, Jordan, McElroy, Carroll, McLaughlin

Referee: Finton Coyle