ARDSTRAW ............................. 4
STRABANE .............................. 4
By Terry Patterson
THIS derby clash at Vaughan's Holm in Newtownstewart was a decidedly poor advertisement for intermediate football. It had little to recommend it other than the young, burgeoning talent on show and the manner of the eight goals that kept a 100-strong crowd wholly engaged.
The quality of football was abysmal from two sides seeking a first win this term, a fact not lost on Ardstraw boss, Nigel Kee who watched his side surrender a 4-1 lead. Blasted Kee: "It was a very poor standard of football, and our worst performance for two years.
"We were cruising at 4-1 and could easily have been in double figures. We didn't turn up for the second half. The boys thought the game was over. We were a shambles, an embarrassment. I'm very disappointed. We threw it away."
In an error-strewn opening 45 minutes chances went begging at either end, although mostly around the suspect Stephen Hoynes in the away goal. When Ian Hill swooped on the keeper's awful clearance in just six minutes he should have put his side in the driving seat rather than shoot hurriedly past the angle of an unguarded target.
And there was a touch of good fortune about it as Ardstraw did open their intermediate account in 18 minutes. Ross Clarke's corner was headed out to Allen Magee lurking just inside the area and he stabbed the ball through a crowded goalmouth and, to his surprise, narrowly inside Hoynes's right-hand upright.
Two minutes later it should have become 2-0. The influential Graham McCain delivered the most incisive pass of the afternoon to that point and Hill raced through only to scuff his shot and allow Marty Houston divert the ball for a fruitless corner.
That might have been the wake-up call the visitors needed as almost immediately John Patton fired low past Andrew Gailey's goal, but it soon was 2-0. McCain intercepted Adam Coyle's cross-field pass and released a marauding Nigel Boyd to score with the aid of a slight deflection, Hoynes expecting his low effort to drift wide.
Coyle atoned just before the half-hour, taking a splendid pass from Adrian Nelson in his stride and, enjoying a fortunate ricochet as he burst through, comprehensively beat Gailey beyond his right hand from the edge of the box.
The impressive Clarke, who bossed midfield throughout, quickly restored the two-goal advantage. He picked up a breaking ball as Nelson, unwisely dribbling out of defence, ran into traffic, took one touch and unloaded a thumping 25-yard effort that screamed into Hoynes's top right-hand corner.
Ardstraw, with five teenagers in the starting eleven, had won balls at the back much as they pleased in that first half, so it was no surprise that Strabane reverted to 4-4-2 with the bustling Nelson joining Moore in attack and Coyle and skipper, Patton dropping back into midfield.
However, there was little noticeable change during the opening exchanges of the new half.
In only 20 seconds Hoynes spilled a Clarke shot but recovered as the ball was creeping over the line. On 48 minutes, perhaps the best move of the game, sparked by Mage who sent Gary Fair skipping clear, resulted in Hill crashing the Newtown side 4-1 ahead.
A minute later Fair forced a superb stop from Hoynes and soon afterwards Gareth Watson's vicious volley flashed narrowly wide. At the other end Thomas Moore delayed his parting shot allowing Gailey to save with his feet.
Strabane, who had always looked dangerous raiding along the left through full-back, Danny Glenn and Coyle, but who otherwise wanted too many touches, launched their comeback on 64 minutes, John Donaghey rifling a low drive past Gailey courtesy of an excellent pass from substitute, James McDermott who brought a fresh and lively impetus to his side.
An unmarked Coyle headed home Moore's right-sided corner at the near post (67) and it should have been level 15 minutes from time when home substitute, James Milligan gifted the ball to McDermott. Alas, while he beat a full-stretch Gailey to his right, McDermott's shot curled away at the last moment and bounced clear off the base of the post.
Out of keeping with the game, Magee and Tyrone Milk Cup starlet, Niall Devine, one of Strabane's better performers on the day, got involved in some argy-bargy two minutes later but were let off lightly with a lecture by Derry whistler, Gary Curran. Nelson, unchallenged, salvaged Strabane's point (79), ramming a header past Gailey from Stephen McCrory's free kick and in the ensuing 11 minutes either side could have snatched victory. Magee's cracking drive was beaten out by Hoynes while Coyle was twice denied his hat-trick by an athletic Gailey.
"I don't like criticising the keeper, but we should never have been 4-1 down, although we did lose our shape just before the interval," admitted Strabane chief, John McCrossan. "We took our goals well and, with young Devine having his first game at this level, I have to be pleased with our point."
