Taylor praises his young guns after muddy battle with Glebe Rangers

In terrible conditions both teams put on a good display, in what was new Glebe boss, Peter Cairns’ second win in as many weeks.

Portstewart opened the scoring in the fifth minute thanks to Ryan Doherty.

Gareth Henry levelled matters for Glebe in the 25 minute.

Portstewart battled hard in the remainder of the first half, but the scores remained 1-1 at the break.

It was Glebe who came out fighting for the second half. They dominated play and pressed the Ports defence.

A second yellow resulted in Glebe finishing the final ten minutes of the game with just ten men. Despite their disadvantage they continued their fight, and their efforts paid off when Marks headed pasts Madison from a corner.

Ports boss Gary Taylor took some positives from the tie which he described as ‘game of two halves’.

“Luke Bradley, who we have signed on loan from Coleraine and Markus Condren were positives from the game. Luke was playing out of position, but he proved that he has a good footballing brain.

“Lee Forgrave and Ryan Doherty were star men in the opening minutes, but an injury to Adam Campbell forced us to change things early on, so we did loose our shape a little bit.”

Taylor went on: “ Glebe’s first goal came from a sloppy corner, but we did have a few sniffs after that. In the second half we just didn’t come out. Glebe had all the play, but to be honest I don’t think they really had a chance on goal until Ryan Mark’s corner a few minutes before the final whistle.”

The Portstewart boss said that Club volunteers are making efforts to repair the pitch after Saturday’s tie, which he felt should never have been played.

“I really don’t think the game should have been played. The conditions were atrocious, and as the game went on, players were finding it hard to find their feet. Hopefully the weather picks up a bit and our boys can get working on the pitch ahead of Saturday’s tie with Queen’s. I understand that they are attempting to play their rearranged Intermediate Cup tie on Wednesday, so they can get back to us in the League on Saturday.”

Meanwhile, Portstewart PRO, Alistair MacFadyen has made a rallying call to locals. The PRO said: “Every club has to rely on supporters coming through the turnstiles to keep them afloat, I would appeal to football fans to come out and support the Seahawks.”