'I will take the blame' says Taylor

And, boss Gary Taylor held his hands up, saying “I take the blame”.

On Monday, Gary told Times Sport: “We changed the formation a bit on Saturday for the first half, but it didn’t work.

“We ended up being too narrow in the midfield, but we made a few changes at half time and we were much better.

“We never seem to get two halves the same. We were poor in the first half, but we had a good enough second half, and really should have won it late on.

“Chris Donnell came on and he had a late chance to win the game for us.

“Young Chris is back fighting fit again, his confidence is back, so that’s a positive for us.”

Gary went on: “Owen Peden was also back Saturday following a broken collar bone, but we’re still waiting on Marty Smith, he had a scan last week on his knee, but nothing showed up, so he’s to see his doctor again this week.”

Portstewart travel to PSNI this Saturday, and Gary is expecting a tough test: “They have a lot of experience, something that we don’t have, they have a number of ex-Irish league players, so it’ll be tough,” admitted Gary.

Portstewart will be without Alan Gaston for the game as he is serving a one match ban.