Ea-sy! Ea-sy!

Ea-sy! Ea-sy!

Glentoran 1 Linfield 4


Delighted on the one hand, but as the eternal perfectionist, disappointed we didn't win by more.

This was my first game in months, and my mates were fearful that i would be a 'scud'. Never have I been so confident or optimistic going into a 'Big One' game, and this worried me, as cockiness can often be your downfall, but this time it proved to be well-placed as we tore our nearest rivals apart.

Finally I saw what all the fuss was about. Our first half performance was simply top-class. We came out all guns blazing, forced a save out of their keeper within 2 minutes, a couple of corners, and opened the scoring on 4 minutes from Winkie Murphy (who was immense yesterday, one losing one header all day and out-muscling the awful reject Morgan) after a great cross from a short corner (incidentally, our HUNDREDTH goal of the season, a European record, and the 1000th under the stewardship of FDJ). After that, we just took them apart with simple pass and move, Oran Kearney almost chipped Morris after running 40 yards, and Ferguson incredibly missed an open goal from the rebound, then he went close with another header. But we weren't to be denied. 2 rapid-fire goals just after the half-hour, the first turned in by Ferguson after great work and a super left-footed (!) cross from Michael Gault, then a header from Pistol Pete after an overhead knock-on from Ferguson again. Thompson tortured the Glens defence with his pace and sharpness. The Glens had no answer, their only chance falling to Sissy Morgan after our injured keeper couldn't kick the ball, but Sissy hit it straight it at the shaken Mannus.

3-0 at half time, game over, and the gates at the home end had to be opened to let all the Glenmen OUT! A surprising number did stay till the bitter end, to be fair. Cue songs of 'Ea-sy!' complete with wrestling/ Soccer AM style clapping, and many choruses of 'Jingle Bells' from the gloating Bluemen, waving in delight to all the planes passing overhead upon take-off from the nearby City Airport.

5 minutes into the second half, we scored the goal of the game, and a goal that, had it been scored by Shearer or Henry in the Premiership, would have been played over and over on TV. Good football in midfield releases Kearney down the left. He seems to have hit his cross too far, evading the crowd of players standing in anticipation around the penalty spot. From nowhere, Spike Ferguson appears round the back, shapes perfectly and cracks it on the volley back into the far corner of the net. Totally unstoppable, and the cue for scenes of disbelief and delight among the Bluemen. Plenty of licks of 'Cheer Up Roy Coyle', 'We Love You Linfield' and continual chants of 'Ea-sy! ea-sy!' ensue.

And then, in my opinion, we took our foot off the gas a bit, and i'm a bit gutted by that. We even missed ANOTHER penalty (our EIGHTH miss in 12 attempts), Fergie's penalty for his hat-trick being saved by Morris. Fegir then put a couple of headers wide that he would normally have buried. We seemed to stop competing for every ball, the Glens had more space, and scored a consolation on 86 minutes, cheered ironically by Bluemen and Glenmen who decided they'd chant 'easy' :) I was so pissed off with this, for the simple reason that I have never seen Linfield beat Glentoran by 4 clear goals, and this is as good a chance as we're likely to get. But still, spending the night in an East Belfast pub among miserable Glenmen cheered me no end :)

MOTM: Probably Fergie, though Winkie in defence was immense, Gaulty was everywhere, and Jim Ervin at right-back was brilliant in defence and attack, and the lifelong Bluemen certainly lapped up the celebrations afterwards!

Never have I seen us so comprehensively dominate them. That's 3 spankings in a row we've given them now since the horror of that 2-3 title loss game last season: 4-2 in the Setanta, 3-0 in the CIS final, and now 4-1 in the league. Happy days.

I can't believe Roy Coyle played 4-3-3, we have 4 big midfielders who overpowered a 4-man Glentoran midfield in the CIS final, so Coyle takes one out? It made it even easier for us.

The win puts us 10 points clear, and it'll take a miracle for us to lose the league now. I truly believe we have an historic opportunity to do a clean sweep this season, given the poor quality of the league and the ineptitude of our biggest rivals. Who knows, with a bit of luck.

And the Boxing Day unbeaten run continues, 17 years and counting...