Taylor’s hoping his side will bounce back

Portstewart kicked off with a very strong wind in their backs, but it was the home side who almost got off to the perfect start.

With barely three minutes on the clock Joel Madison somehow prevented Tobermore from going ahead when he brought off three tremendous point blank saves in a matter of seconds.

His counterpart, Matty McGraw, was soon called into action at the other end of the pitch, when a swift counter attack saw Lee Forgrave and Ryan Doherty putting McGraw under pressure.

Despite the cold and windy conditions both teams played plenty of entertaining football creating plenty of chances, but with both defenses and keepers dominating their opposing forwards a stalemate always looked the likely outcome.

Portstewart went close to scoring on a couple of occasions through Robert Donnell, Richard Vauls and Ryan Doherty, but the final score was 0-0.

Ports boss Gary Taylor is hoping for better this week when his side hosts Banbridge Town.

“I felt, like last week against Limavady, that we had done enough to win the tie.

“We dominated the tie, but just had bad luck in front of goal.

“We have been playing well, so I hope that we can get back to winning ways again.”

Taylor praised midfielders Ryan Doherty and Lee Forgrave, and also David McClements.

“Lee and Ryan did very well in the first half, and gave Tobermore a lot of problems, they both had efforts in front of goal.

“David played at right back on Saturday and did very well out of his normal position. He’s dangerous going forward, and that’s what we are lacking at the minute.”

With minds now focused on Banbridge, Taylor is hoping for a repeat of the opening game of the season, when Portstewart walked away with a 2-0 win and three points.

“Banbridge are a good side, they have been picking up points against the top teams in recent weeks.

“We’ll have James Peden back from suspension this week, but Johnny Stewart is carrying an injury and so too is Nigel Turner, so we will have to reshuffle.”