CRUSADERS FC (Seaview)

NORTHERN IRELAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE PREMIERSHIP, CRUSADERS 4-2 GLENTORAN, ATTENDANCE: 2,433

Welcome back to my humble little blog, a (belated) Happy New Year to you!

The weather has been playing havoc with football matches over the last few weeks, with many, many postponements, so for my first trip of 2016 I crossed the Irish Sea to watch the Belfast derby between Crusaders and Glentoran.

There was absolutely no danger of any call off today as Crusaders' Seaview home has a 4G artificial pitch, which was installed in 2009. This little fact was at the back of mind when I originally booked this trip last November. Good job too as quite a few games in the province were called off due to waterlogged pitches.

It was an early flight into Belfast, allowing plenty of time for one to tuck into a large Ulster Fry before heading up the Shore Road to the stadium. The ground is about a 30 minute walk from the city centre and has been the home of Crusaders since 1921.

You can actually see the ground as you head into the city, as Seaview is clearly visible from both the Larne to Belfast train and also the M2 motorway, from where I first caught a glimpse from the top deck of the bus taking me from the airport to the city. However walking up on foot, the first thing you notice on arrival at the ground is the mural painted on the wall on the corner of St Vincent Street.

Crusaders were formed in 1898 and played intermediate (amateur) football until 1949 before joining the senior ranks. The club have five league titles to their name and are the current champions. The Crues are currently top of the table and look on course to defend their title.

This Belfast 'derby' was billed as the game of the day in Northern Ireland and it did not disappoint.

Crusaders Jordan Owens broke the clubs goalscoring record last weekend, when he netted his 157th goal for the club and he should have added to the total after just 2 minutes when he had an effort blocked on the line, when it was probably easier to score.

However it was Glentoran who struck first after 7 minutes when a Barry Holland shot from 35 yards was parried by Crusaders goalkeeper Sean O'Neill into the path of Curtis Allen, who tapped home from inside the six yard box. On 33 minutes Allen doubled the Glens lead when he latched onto a long ball, shrugged off the defender and produced a fine finish, lobbing the ball over the advancing 'keeper.

Despite being two goals down, the Crusaders fans kept backing their team, especially the lady who was sitting near to me who was urging her team to "Go on, go on" I did wonder if her surname was Doyle? The home fans in the stand behind the goal also belted out a fine rendition of Erasure's 'A Little Respect' which is the song that The Crusaders run out to.

Colin Coates had a goal disallowed for the Crusaders but they finally got on the score sheet after 43 minutes when Jordan Forsythe fired home a low free kick from the edge of the box. Less then sixty seconds later they were level. The Glentoran defence failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to Matthew Snoddy on the edge of the box and his curling shot found the bottom corner.

Crusaders took control in the second half and their comeback was completed when Billy Joe Burns smashed home from 25 yards in the 62nd minute and Owens finally got his goal when he headed home after 74 minutes. Inbetween the goals Glentoran's Ciaran Caldwell was shown a second yellow card when he kicked the ball at a player who was down on the ground.

A fine afternoons entertainment at Seaview. Match highlights can be found by clicking here

LINFIELD F.C (Windsor Park)

NORTHERN IRELAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE PREMIERSHIP, LINFIELD 3-3 ARDS, ATTENDANCE: 1,500 (est)

With an opportunity to 'tick' off three games in Northern Ireland in one weekend, I took a short flight from Liverpool to Belfast for a wee break.

The first of my three games was at Windsor Park, the home of Linfield FC and also the National Stadium of Northern Ireland. It is fair to say the ground has seen better days but there are plans in place to redevelop the ground click here

There were nervy moments for this groundhopper as the persistant rain in Belfast had saturated the pitch and there were two inspections before the game was given the go ahead around 6pm. The only dodgy areas, as far as I could see were the penalty areas, which wouldn't have looked out of place at Glastonbury!

Founded in 1886, Linfield are Northern Ireland's most successful club with 51 league titles to their name. They are currently on course to make that 52 titles as they sit top of the table going into this evenings game.

Tonight Linfield were hosting bottom-of-the table Ards, who had yet to secure a point on their travels this season.

Linfield opened the scoring through Jamie Mulgrew (17) but a defensive mix up gifted Mark McClelland (19) an equaliser before Philip Lowry (26) and Andrew Waterworth made it 3-1 to the home side. David Armstrong (40) hit back to give Ards a lifeline just before the break.

Despite plenty of Linfield pressure in the second period, they could not break down a stubborn Ards back line and the visitors visibly grew in confidence as the half wore on and, with 5 minutes remaining, Stephen Gordon equalised for the visitors to earn them a deserved point.

Post match it was a 25 minute walk back to the city centre where a few nightcaps were sunk in the legendary Crown Liquor Saloon.