Duncan Ferguson spent part of his first week at Glentoran charging around the Oval hunting for a WiFi password, swearing, on camera. The clip went everywhere. His first actual match in the Irish Premiership was a good deal more composed than that, and it ended with a point at the league leaders.
Glentoran drew 1-1 at Coleraine on Friday night. Jordan Stewart headed the equaliser with two minutes left. Ferguson clapped the away end, pumped his fist, and admitted afterwards that the overriding feeling was relief.
A cautious first half, then a gamble
Coleraine have scored more than anyone else in the division this season, and Ferguson set his side up to contain them. For 45 minutes that mostly worked, though not entirely to his satisfaction. He thought his players were "too passive in our shape" when Joel Cooper, one of the better footballers in the league, curled in a fine opener.
Matthew Shevlin hit the post. Andrew Mills made a couple of strong saves in the Glentoran goal. Then, after the break, the visitors pushed up and started to take risks, and Stewart got on the end of one of them.
"They have a lot of attacking threats but, aside from the boy sticking one in the top corner, we restricted them in the first half," Ferguson said. "We've come to the best team in the league and in the second half I felt we went toe-to-toe with them."
Stewart, he noted, is one of the smallest players on the pitch. Ferguson has taken to calling him "the wee man". For a striker who built a career on heading footballs, a late headed equaliser from the shortest man in the side has a certain symmetry to it.
Why the draw mattered more than it looks
Ferguson's first scheduled game, at home to Ballymena United, was called off with a waterlogged pitch. That meant his debut came away at the top of the table, with a defeat leaving his side 17 points off Coleraine before the end of October.
"It's a relief. At the end of the day you are under pressure," he said. "My first game didn't happen with Ballymena, and all of a sudden my next game is away at the league leaders. It's not easy. The boys performed great and they done their club proud."
Asked whether he would have accepted a draw beforehand, he did not hesitate. "I knew they were a good team. If you had offered me a draw before the match I would have taken it, 100%."
A manager doing his homework
This is the biggest appointment the Irish League has made in years, and both parties have something to prove. Ferguson's spells at Forest Green Rovers and Inverness Caledonian Thistle did not go well, and his two interim stints at Everton in 2019 and 2022 are what most people still remember him for. Glentoran, for their part, have been talking about returning to past heights for some time.
He has been open about knowing little of the Irish Premiership before he took the job, and has leaned on Elliott Morris and Andy Matheson at the Oval to fill the gaps. The week before this game he was at Seaview watching Coleraine beat Crusaders, and at Dungannon Swifts for a Glentoran Under-20s match.
On the touchline he was mostly restrained, bar one telling-off from the fourth official. Next up is a trip to Carrick Rangers, and he says he will be back on the homework before then.
"It's all one game at a time, but we've got a bit of time to prepare for Carrick Rangers," he said. "It's not all about tactics, it's about fire, determination and about running. My players showed that in the second half."
Match facts: Coleraine 1-1 Glentoran, Irish Premiership. Cooper for Coleraine; Stewart equalised with two minutes remaining. Duncan Ferguson's first competitive match as Glentoran manager, following postponed fixture against Ballymena United. Glentoran travel to Carrick Rangers next.
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