Sport

Bradley aiming as high as possible with Glenavon

Glenavon's Eoin Bradley celebrates with his team-mates after scoring during Saturday's 3-3 draw with Cliftonville at Mourneview Park <br />Picture by Pacemaker
Glenavon's Eoin Bradley celebrates with his team-mates after scoring during Saturday's 3-3 draw with Cliftonville at Mourneview Park
Picture by Pacemaker
Glenavon's Eoin Bradley celebrates with his team-mates after scoring during Saturday's 3-3 draw with Cliftonville at Mourneview Park
Picture by Pacemaker

Danske Bank Premiership: Glenavon 3 Cliftonville 3

EOIN BRADLEY took home the match ball on Saturday for the third time this season after a hat-trick of real quality earned a point for Glenavon at home to Cliftonville.

Well more precisely, Bradley's son, brought to the game by grandfather Liam, took it home and both the match ball and the recording of this game should be treasured possessions in the Bradley household. This was the Derry man at his best, with his three goal haul perfectly showcasing why he is such a handful for opposing defenders in the Irish League. He is a potent package of power, pace and finishing prowess.

His first goal cancelled out the opener from Cliftonville's James Knowles and was a terrific pinpoint header past Conor Devlin from an Andy Hall cross. His second made it 3-2 and came after he used his famed upper body strength to muscle his way into the penalty area and finish to the roof of the net. And the equaliser saved, perhaps, the best until last. After brilliant work by Joel Cooper, Bradley latched onto his pass before lashing the ball home on the run.

The man himself, who signed a two-year contract extension after the game, modestly played down the achievement and praised the quality and resilience of those around him.

"Any day you score a hat-trick is a good day," said Bradley.

"I scored a couple with the head last week and another one on Saturday, which is good because I never really seem to score headers. No matter whether they go in off you or whether they’re great goals, whatever they are - it’s always good to score.

"Whenever you are 3-1 down against Cliftonville - you very rarely ever come back. You normally get a four or a five-one hammering, but we showed good character whenever we got the second. When we brought it back to 3-2, there was only one team in it.

"It was a real good game and a good advertisement for the Irish League. We definitely are a very hard team to beat - we’re playing well this season and we have a never say die attitude. Gary [Hamilton] has instilled that into us and it’s paying off."

Young Joel Cooper has proven to be a real find for the mid-Ulster club this year and his precise throughball for Bradley while under pressure was also a joy to watch.

"Joel is a good young player. He came from Ballyclare, but the more and more he plays you can see that he has a bit of pace about him and he can take players on," added Bradley.

"To be fair - we have pace down both wings with him and Andy Hall [on the other side]. We have a good set-up, we’ve got a good squad now. Kevin [Braniff] was back in there yesterday. Ciarán Martyn has to come back in, David Elebert has to come back in and young James Singleton also. So if we had those boys back in - we’d be going well."

Glenavon are sitting fifth in the table, with just five points separating themselves and Cliftonville in second. Asked about targets for the remainder of the season, Bradley was honest and agreed that it looks, at present, as if there are three or four teams playing for second behind defending champions Crusaders.

"Crusaders are very strong - they have a very good and a very strong squad," said Bradley.

"They are very hard to beat at home. I think their pitch is a big advantage for them but, look, all we can do is just try to win every game. We just take it one game at a time. Of course, we would want a good cup run anyway. We have a tough game now, we play Glentoran or Ards away in the cup.

"As far as the league goes - it’s just get as high as we can. If we get into second - that would be great. If we don’t, we don’t. There are only maybe three or four points between us, Linfield, Coleraine and Cliftonville. So we have to play each other another couple of times - you never know what would happen - we will aim as high as we can."