Newry City coach Gavin Dykes: We will keep fighting for Barry Gray
Glenavon 3 Newry City 2
Newry's Adam Salley celebrates with his team-mates after his goal against Glenavon
Glenavon's Stephen Teggart celebrates his late winner against Newry City
Gavin Dykes has vowed that Newry City will fight to the end in their battle to stay in the Sports Direct Premiership after revealing that he couldn’t say no to his good friend Barry Gray in his hour of need.
Dykes took charge of team affairs for the first time following the border club’s announcement that Gray was stepping back to focus on health matters as he undergoes cancer treatment.
The stand-in boss got a display of character from his team as they twice fought back from behind against Glenavon, but in the end, Newry’s plight worsened after Stephen Teggart’s 90th-minute winner and relegation rivals Ballymena United’s 3-2 win at Loughgall.
“These things happen when you’re on the bottom,” said Dykes after having hopes of a priceless point ripped away.
“It’s disappointing because if we’d got a point out of here, it would have been good. We will keep fighting until it’s over.
“The situation is not ideal in any way, shape or form.
“I wouldn’t be here only for Barry being a good friend of mine and, as we all know, he is struggling a bit at the moment, but he will get better. He is a good character and he will get better.
“He is a very hard man to say no to when he’s in good health. You’ve no chance of saying no to him in his present circumstances.
“We are delighted to help, and all the players and everyone else wish him well, and hopefully, we will see him in the next couple of weeks.”
After chances at both ends in the early stages, Glenavon seized the initiative with a superbly struck James Doona free-kick from almost 30 yards that Newry goalkeeper Conor Mitchell was unable to save as he scrambled across his line after not setting up a wall.
Things might have panned out differently for Newry if they had been awarded what Dykes claimed was a ‘blatant penalty’ when Adam Salley went down inside the box just before half-time, but referee Keith Kennedy showed the striker a yellow card instead of pointing to the spot.
Salley did have a say in proceedings just after the hour mark when he wriggled through a series of challenges wide on the left before unleashing a stunning 25-yard strike that flew into the top corner.
Gavin Hodgins restored Glenavon’s lead with 20 minutes to go but, when Barney McKeown headed home to equalise in the 77th minute, it gave Newry hope that they might close the gap at the foot of the table.
Those hopes were dealt a double blow when Ballymena grabbed their winner at Loughgall and then Teggart clinched the points for Glenavon.
“We’re extremely happy to win. We like winning games,” said Glenavon manager Stephen McDonnell.
“We’d three great individual efforts, three great strikes for the goals, so we are happy with that.
“The incentive to finish seventh is still the main thing, and with four games left, if we win all four, we will do that.
“Other results have gone our way and it’s going to be a brilliant run-in.
“We took the club over in 11th, so if we can finish seventh at the end of the season considering how precarious it was when we came in, I would say hats off to the group of players.”
Glenavon: Deane 7, Toure 7, Birney 7 (Wallace, 81 mins, 5), Haughey 7 (Ward, 58 mins, 6), O’Sullivan 7, Snoddy 6 (Doran, 58 mins, 5), Malone 7, Quinn 6, Garrett 7 (Teggart, 58 mins, 7), Doona 7, Prendergast 5 (Hodgins, 14 mins, 7). Unused subs: Byrne, McCloskey.
Newry: Mitchell 6, King 7, McKeown 7, O’Brien 6, Carroll 6, McCaffrey 7 (Bagnall, 75 mins, 5), O’Connor 6 (Doyle, 60 mins, 6), Poynton 6, Healy 7, J McGovern 6 (McDonagh, 60 mins, 5), Salley 6. Unused subs: Maguire, Moan, Mooney, P McGovern. Referee: Keith Kennedy (Lisburn) 7
