Kingsberry stars as pre-season campaign gets off to a winning start

Lisburn Distillery's Chris Kingsberry drives home a penalty to score his team's second goal in Wednesday evening's pre-season friendly against Glenavon. US1329-506cd

Chris Kingsberry marked his return to Lisburn Distillery with a goal and a man-of-the-match performance as the Whites saw off a makeshift Glenavon team on Wednesday.

The game at Ballyskeagh was the club’s first outing under new manager Tommy Kincaid with a new-look side taking to the field.

Robert Robinson, Stuart Thompson and Kingsberry all made a second debut for the Whites while the rest of the side was made up of a mixture of youth and experience. Take the defence for example - wise old heads Neil Alderdice and Darren Nixon were paired with Ryan Irwin and Adam Allen at the back.

For the visitors it was very much a makeshift side. Gary Hamilton has been splitting his squad over recent weeks with his best players having being sent to Dergview 24 hours previous to this encounter.

They started off brightest with an Andy Mitchell free kick and Rainey effort both narrowly going over Robinson’s goal in the first 10 minutes.

Johnny Kernaghan broke forward for the Whites but his 25-yard effort failed to test Andy Coleman.

The Whites were almost masters of their own downfall on 14 minutes when a cross into the box was headed down by Mitchell, with the ball bouncing off Alderdice’s knee and forcing Robinson into a save.

A goal was coming and when it did it was quite spectacular. The Lurgan men went ahead when, as a cross was cleared, the ball fell perfectly for Ryan Corrigan to volley home from 20 yards out on 23 minutes.

Ally Wilson then had the ball in the net for the hosts almost five minutes later, although it was ruled out for offside, but eventually the striker did level the scores, heading home a dangerous cross as the Glenavon defence slept.

Half time brought a host of changes with the Whites doing their utmost to capitalise. And so they did when Upton was held back by Jordan Dane, leaving the referee with no option but to award a penalty. Kingsberry stepped up and did the needful.

Of the Whites’ substitutes, Mark Tweedie arguably impressed the most; the striker seeming to have a bit of guile about him.

The game fizzled out after the hour mark. Sammy McIlveen and Murphy sought out an equaliser to no avail and sub Peter Whan almost grabbed a third but an impressive workout for the Whites ended in a 2-1 victory.

DISTILLERY: Robinson, Irwin, Allen, Alderdice, Nixon, Thompson, Kingsberry, Doyle, Wilson, Upton, Kernaghan. Subs: Tweedie (Kernaghan 46), Whan (Doyle 66), Fegan (Upton 77), McBride, Lyons (Allen 46), Withers (Wilson 46), McConville (Irwin 46).