A disappointed David Healy was left to question several refereeing decision in the wake of an enthralling Big Two Irish Cup clash on Friday night.

After a fairly low key first half the game finally burst into life after the break as Jordan Jenkins fired Glentoran in front. Linfield responded as Chris McKee headed home the equaliser and take the game into extra time.

But the Blues were to suffer a hammer blow in the first period of extra time as Joel Cooper was dismissed for seemingly kicking out at Johnny Russell.

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The pressure told on the 10-men as substitute Finley Thorndike smashed home the winner for the hosts on 112 minutes before Chris Shields and Joe Thomson followed Cooper for an early bath.

Healy though felt there could have been a couple of red cards earlier on as he reflected on a pulsating 120 minutes.

"The fourth official called it," said Healy when asked about Cooper's dismissal. "I'm disappointed as I thought there were things in the game that transpired against us. I thought there were one or two other decisions in the game which went unpunished. I thought Joe Thomson was very lucky, Marcus Kane was very lucky.

"I'm proud of the players and their effort as this has been a really tough week. After Tuesday night I thought we were going to be a couple light and we ended up being three or four light.

"The players put a lot into the game and we nearly got there with square pegs in round holes. The longer the game goes you start to wonder what you've got left in the tank and we just got done."

Thorndike's moment of magic sent the Glentoran fans into raptures as they stretched their unbeaten run over the Blues to six games with assistant boss Paddy McCourt hailing the impact of the 22-year-old.

"Young Finley is a really talented player," said. "He came in late, he didn't have a pre-season so it took him a bit of time to get up to speed.

"He had a period in the team when he did well, then he picked up an injury against Crusaders so he had to be patient again.

"Again though no-one within the coaching staff is surprised to see him do that as we see it everyday in training."

On the game McCourt added: "We were certainly a bit untidy with some of our play in the first half. It was probably the occasion and a bit of nervous tension.

"I thought from the second half though both teams played a lot better. It had a bit of everything in the end and I'm glad we came out on the right side of it."

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