A less than wonderful match at the Oval ended with Glentoran ascending to the dizzy heights of fourth place in the table and Coleraine slipping from pole position for only the second time in the campaign.

The result from Castlereagh Park confirmed the suspicion that the Irish League’s ludicrously belated decision to virtually guarantee non-relegation from the Premier would ensure that Roy Coyle’s marauders (?) performed in a most un-maurauding fashion. Their inept showing in a 5-1 reversal against Coleraine’s only serious challengers permitted those warriors from the Shore Road to grab a 2 point lead at the top of the table. Is it coincidence that they have now twice peacefully succumbed to 5 goal defeats within a matter of days. Oh for even a semi-competent Irish League Management Committee (EUFA please, please take note and charge these people with bringing the game into disrepute). They have tried so many scams this season to deny us and ultimately I suspect they have succeeded.

Anyway ... Fans encountered a warm and humid evening in East Belfast - almost tee-shirt or tango weather. The fumes from the Chip-Van perched high above the terracing wafted around the large contingent of Coleraine supporters. Some of these iron-stomached fans defied altitude to purchase copious amounts of lard cleverly disguised as chips. I suspect the Coleraine branch of Boots will be inundated with requests for DioCalm in the near future.

The teams ran out and Coleraine provided a major surprise by including Michael Surgeon in place of Greg O’Dowd who warmed the bench along with Conor McKeever and Johnny McIvor. The Glens were without John Devine a makeshift defence and 2/3 very young players in their team. A reasonably sized crowd anticipated some fine fare but was suitably disappointed.

Coleraine started brightly and Surgeon’s remarkable ability for putting off defenders with his trademark ‘springiness’ was well to the fore. For such a short person he does really well in the air. It seemed that the fine Oval playing surface would really suit Coleraine’s style of play but for all their efforts I can only recall one semblance of a chance to trouble the Glen’s new Dutch ‘keeper. A further gripe - How could the Irish League possibly permit this signing - the bookwork was completed well after the St Patrick’s day deadline and the Glens knew of their predicament well in advance of this date? It mattered not - the guy was rarely troubled behind a very steady defence.

After a period of pressure during which Lamont stretched to the full to tip a overhead kick from McBride onto the bar, Glentoran grabbed what was to prove the winner. A driven corner from the left by Stuart Elliot was met precisely by the unmarked James Quigley who bulleted home a fine header. Quigley must have felt like a guest at the Annual Dinner of Herbie Barr Supporters Club (Coleraine Brach) so isolated was he. Despair all round but still 60 minutes to play. Television pictures showed that Aspinall make a belated attempt at reaching Quigley. As spherical missile nestled in the goal area, Aspinall went ape and spat venom at Doherty who reciprocated.

In truth, Glentoran continued to hold the upper hand and created a number of reasonable chances - Lamont tentatively scrambled one effort marginally around the upright. McBride was always dangerous - fine player - and the support play from midfield was good. Coleraine stumbled and bumbled, huffed and puffed, but their midfield work was woefully ponderous and the forwards lack of ability to win the ball in the air or even hold up play for others was depressing. The half fizzled out with Glens leading 1-0.

The Announcer at half-time identified a single goal for Linfield in the other matches. He also advised that Glentoran shirts were now available at less than half-price which brought roars of laughter from the travelling support. The price of chicken has finally fallen. I perused my colour programme and attempted the cryptic quiz. Most questions were fine but I struggled to name the 5 English/Scottish/Irish clubs with an X in their name. Crewe Alex. Oxford, Wrexham and Exeter were easy but HALIFAX??? - I though the quiz setter was having a real old dig at my West Brom allegiance. Methinks that that question came from a Shoot annual circa. 1922.

Into the second half and Coleraine had clearly lulled the Glens into a true sense of security. They started with a flourish which almost brought a second goal but the long-range shot went peacefully over the bar. Suddenly - activity on the Coleraine bench. It appeared that Kenny Shiels was about to make a triple substitution - a tactic employed with less than resounding success in a previous meeting between the clubs at the Showgrounds. With just 5 minutes of the half gone, Shiels of the Sammy variety and Surgey were replaced by O’Dowd and McIvor. The latter produced a fine run but the former really struggled to get into the game. I’m a big fan of Greg but recently his confidence has appeared shot. His toiling efforts encouraged one wag to comment that ‘He looks like he really need to go to the toilet!’. The obscenely obese Lindsay Currie should avoid this wag.

Play flitted from end-to-end as the game remained a rather tame affair. Glentoran were more incisive than the Bannsiders with their passing but all too frequently at least one member of their strike force was caught offside by the gentleman on the line with the luminous flag. Coleraine produced very little - O’Dowd scuffed a shot wide of the post and a penalty appeal was turned down for what seemed like the 251st time this season. A mix-up in the Glentoran penalty are came to naught but Smyth and Van der Dutchman contented themselves in a rally of verbal volley (I could only guess at the language). Paul Gaston who by this stage was almost permanently redeployed as a striker was unfortunately wrong footed when a long McIvor cross landed in the danger area and the potentially face-saving opportunity was lost. The crowd’s frustration with Greg O’Dowd was obvious - ‘Hug the touchline’, ‘Get inside’, ‘Don’t try and beat him’, ‘Take him on’ .. were just some of the profferings from an increasingly disgruntled support. Greg was clearly bemused by these rather conflicting gems of advice and in the end did none of the above.

With 5 minutes left, McKeever was introduced for Young. Conor looked very lively, but 5 minutes??? Plenty of time to chronicle famous Linfield victories 1996-97 but insufficient to get properly involved in the match. The game degenerated and Alan Snoddy welcomed full-time with his customary flourish (and perhaps, a degree of relish). Actually, Alan was fine - no quibbles there.

We departed in almost total silence - ‘Disgrace to the town’ asserted one yob (actually this was a 6-word sentence, I’ve omitted the expletives). Had he known the meaning of the word ‘distraught’ he might have identified himself with this state-of-mind. His apparent addiction to Tennants Lager will no doubt be recorded at some future autopsy.

Personally, I was very disappointed. My friend (a Belfast-based supporter who only takes in away games) has been a good-luck charm this season which we put down to his ‘lucky gloves’. Well, he tried everything with these gloves - one on, both on, different hands, inside-out .... but to no avail. He’s now banned from future matches as his mystic powers have clearly waned.

I feel that the team seems jaded and lacking in ideas. We seemed drained by the tension and exhausted with the expectations. Pat McAllister and Conor McKeever must start the next match and we must dismiss the obvious apprehension from our play. Failure to secure the Title would not be the end of the world - on day 1 we would have settled for 5th/6th spot. Now the pressure reverts to the Crues and who knows? The Premiership title is still in our own hands but it would take a return to our autumnal form for the Gibson Trophy (or have we a new Premier trophy?) to nestle at Coleraine Showgrounds.

I return to one of my previous points. A semi-secure Ards have clearly lost the plot. When we played them - and I only saw 60 minutes of this match (nice one, Herbie) - they were a highly motivated unit. Since then they have clearly degenerated into easy whipping boys. I truly want to see the Irish League with egg on their faces. I hope Dungannon & Limavady refuse their offer of a place in what is going to be a truly awful Division 1. I hope no other team takes up this offer. Then what??? Do we have a Premier League of 10 clubs and a Division 1 of 6 clubs? Would we be promote all the current B-Division clubs into Division 1? Will we end up with 2 divisions? A complete and utter shambles.

Roll on Easter Tuesday.