Ports keep the faith to maintain lead at summit
PATIENCE paid off for Portadown as the Shamrock Park men maintained their six-point advantage at the top of the Bluefin Sport Championship table.
Their reward for a dominant display against PSNI finally came on the hour mark when Stephen Murray met a corner at the back post and managed to send the ball across goal, where Adam Salley got the final touch to put the ball over the line just ahead of team mate Paddy McNally.
Murray added the second himself, showing great technique to control a clearance from Paul Finnegan before calmly slotting home.
Second-placed Ballinamallard United also had to wait before breaking the deadlock at home to Dundela. Ryan Campbell’s chip over goalkeeper Ryan McBride was enough to give the Mallards all three points for the third game in succession.
Loughgall were the biggest winners of the day, with a 3-0 victory over Newry City.
On a bad day for Newry, they lost Stephen Hughes to injury after just three minutes, had Declan Carville sent-off nine minutes into the second half and the result puts a major dent in their promotion hopes.
Peter Campbell had put Loughgall into the lead midway through the first half before Jordan Gibson and Ben Neill added their names to the scoresheet.
Dergview moved themselves seven points away from the bottom of the table with a 2-0 win at home to Queen’s University.
Paul Smith put Dergview in front early on, but it wasn’t until Emmet McNabb struck in injury time that they made sure of a second victory over the Students in a week.
Knockbreda remain at the bottom after a 3-1 defeat to Ballyclare Comrades.
Goals from Gary Donnelly and John Dobbin had Comrades in a comfortable position early on and, after Fra Rice had pulled one back on the stroke of half time, Nathan O’Neill made sure of the points in the second half.
A goal in each half from Caomhin McConnell and Kym Nelson either side of a Scott Davidson equaliser gave Ards a 2-1 win over H&W Welders and that result means John Bailie’s side are certain of top-six football.