Strabane ..........................................0

Portstewart.....................................3

CURRENT holders of the North West Intermediate Cup, Portstewart, overcame the challenge of Strabane at Melvin Park last Saturday, but in the end left it very late indeed to do so.

Early in the season Portstewart knocked Strabane out of the North West Senior Cup with a couple of injury time goals and they did something similar this time around. With just four minutes to go and the game tied at 0-0 they hit three goals in that four minute spell.

In the opening half both teams had periods of ascendancy with Strabane having a great chance to open the scoring when Roulston, with only the keeper to beat headed wide from four yards as he got on the end of a McDermott cross.

In the 15th minute Strabane had to re-arrange things in defence shortly after this when Michael McDaid was forced to retire due to injury. It did not seem to upset the team as they defended strongly when the Cup holders put them under pressure at times.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with each side having scoring chances, but poor finishing resulted in these chances being squandered. Strabane were very unlucky when Gerald Donaghy's shot hit the crossbar and there was nobody following up to latch on to the rebound. Portstewart, in the final ten minutes had a couple of good chances, but they failed to convert.

With six minutes to go Strabane could have went in front when young Thomas Moore was put through by McCallion, but with the keeper caught in no-mans-land between his goal and the penalty spot Moore shot wide.

Extra time was looming when a harmless ball into the Strabane area wasn't cleared and in the resultant melée a Portstewart player stuck it past keeper Hoynes. Worse was to follow when a minute later a cross ball drifted by several defenders and an attacker ran in at the back to put the ball in the net for goal number two.

The Strabane players didn't know what had hit them and they found themselves 3-0 down in the final minute when McCallion lost the ball on the halfway line and a quick inter-change of passes ended with the visiting striker firing past Hoynes to seal the game.

experience

After the match a Strabane spokesman said, "It was hard to believe that from a fairly secure position with so little time to go a team could find themselves hit with three goals. But it happened and we just need to put it behind us and concentrate on our next match, which is against Magherafelt Sky Blues in the League next Saturday."