The Crues started off brightest, with an early Adamson chance being headed just wide, but then in a crazy seven minutes that insued, the pounced on some lack-luster Glentoran defending to go three-nil ahead.
The first of those three came in the seventh minute, with the Glens failing to clear the initial ball into the box and Morrow was there to pounce and give the North Belfast side the lead, this was followed up by Timmy Adamson two minutes later, with Callacher dwelling on the ball and a hungry Adamson dispossessed him and coolly slotted past the onrushing Morris to double the Crues lead. Just to make things worse for the Glen men Adamson poked past Morris for a third, not without controversy as the linesman flagged for offside and the Glentoran players stopped, but he was over-ruled by Davy Malcolm and the Crues fans were in dreamland, as Adamson wheeled away having just netted his twenty-first goal of the campaign.
The Crusaders onslaught continued and for the first thirty minutes, with Glentoran unable to break out from the sea of red in front of them, and had it not been for Elliot Morris making two wonder saves from Adamson and then Morrow kept the score respectable, however the Glens parted the red sea and were soon back in it and Andy Waterworth nabbed in after a looping Richard Clarke free-kick was headed against the post and he put his head where post wouldn't put a boot to reduce the arrears and give the East Belfast men hope. The Glens came into the game more and more and Clarke was denied what would surely have been goal of the season by Johann Lacroix, smashing a thunderous volley, dipping and swerving that took all six foot five inches of the Frenchman to keep out. Clarke would not be denied and just before the whistle blew for half time the Glens, he curled into a lovely finish from the edge of the box and one of the best halves of football seen at the Oval came to an end.
The second half began with Glentoran on top, however were lucky to have all eleven men left on the pitch after Jay Magee clattered into Paul Heatley, as he had been all afternoon, and got away with what would have been deemed as a high tackle in rugby. The Glens then completed the comeback after a prolonged period of pressure another long ball into the box caused the Crues problems and Jim O'Hanlon headed home for his third of the season. The Magee and Heatley battle continued and was hotly contested by both, but it was the later that would gain the upper hand as a perfectly time through ball say Heatly control the ball and masterfully chip Elliot Morris in one foul swoop. Crusaders began to press home their advantage as McMaster gave them breathing space with a fantastic curling finish to leave Morris and the Glens defence stranded, that was not the scoring completed though, as last month's player of the month Stephen Carson left Crues stopper Lacroix no chance with a lovely curling finish into the top corner and unfortunately for the neutral that was the game over.
Crusaders maintained their slim hopes of pipping Cliftonville to the title as the two clash on Tuesday and then again in the cup semi-final on Saturday. The Glens will be looking to bounce back in the "Bel Classico" on Easter Tuesday and then they find themselves in a semi-final against Portadown who will be looking to make up for the disappointment of missing out on a top six finish.
The second half began with Glentoran on top, however were lucky to have all eleven men left on the pitch after Jay Magee clattered into Paul Heatley, as he had been all afternoon, and got away with what would have been deemed as a high tackle in rugby. The Glens then completed the comeback after a prolonged period of pressure another long ball into the box caused the Crues problems and Jim O'Hanlon headed home for his third of the season. The Magee and Heatley battle continued and was hotly contested by both, but it was the later that would gain the upper hand as a perfectly time through ball say Heatly control the ball and masterfully chip Elliot Morris in one foul swoop. Crusaders began to press home their advantage as McMaster gave them breathing space with a fantastic curling finish to leave Morris and the Glens defence stranded, that was not the scoring completed though, as last month's player of the month Stephen Carson left Crues stopper Lacroix no chance with a lovely curling finish into the top corner and unfortunately for the neutral that was the game over.
Crusaders maintained their slim hopes of pipping Cliftonville to the title as the two clash on Tuesday and then again in the cup semi-final on Saturday. The Glens will be looking to bounce back in the "Bel Classico" on Easter Tuesday and then they find themselves in a semi-final against Portadown who will be looking to make up for the disappointment of missing out on a top six finish.
