Gyollai delighted with 'freak goal' in win against Reds

Daniel GyollaiImage source, Pacemaker Press
Image caption,

Gyollai netted an equaliser for Glentoran in their win against Cliftonville

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Glentoran goalkeeper Daniel Gyollai admitted that his equaliser in his side's win against Cliftonville was a "freak goal".

The Hungarian netted on the stroke of half-time with a free-kick from inside his box which bounced over Reds stopper David Odumosu.

And whilst conceding it was not what he had meant, Gyollai was happy to contribute to the comeback victory.

"It was a freak goal and that is the first time I have scored in my career so it will be a memorable one and it was really important," he told BBC Sport NI.

"It was a crazy game, a game of two halves. The first half was really tough, and we got caught sleeping on the free-kick which they scored from and I was really angry with the boys," Gyollai continued.

"Second half we controlled the game, limited them to few chances and deserved the three points."

Glens boss Declan Devine praised his side's resilience to come back and win the game after they had fallen behind to Joe Gormley's opener, with Gyollai and then Danny Amos getting on the scoresheet.

"It was a scrapy and ugly game, I was really disappointed at half-time with the goal we gave away and we didn't play anywhere near our levels," he said.

"Our goalkeeper gets us out of jail and brings us level, but second half we were more competitive and more aggressive and credit to the players, to come from a goal behind shows the team spirit in the group."

Devine reserved special praise for goalkeeper Gyollai, whose goal was similar to former Glentoran stopper Elliot Morris' effort against Institute in 2019.

"[Gyollai scoring] is not what you expect coming to the game and the big man has been simply outstanding since coming in," Devine added.

"Within two days of him coming in Elliot Morris showed him the goal he scored against Institute at the Brandywell a few years ago which I was at, and Dan has been able to do it himself, so I'm delighted for him."