Dumbarton Harp's cup dreams shattered

Nov 28 2008 Lennox Herald (main ed)

HARP’S cup dreams were shattered by a hard working Port team, an uneven playing surface and a performance that fell well short of what the lads have shown previously this season.

The Dumbarton side started well but found themseves a goal down after 30 minutes when a wicked deflection off a back-tracking Harp defender wrong footed keeper McFall.

Port Glasgow piled on the pressure but fine defending by McIntyre and McEwan, as well as great goalkeeping by McFall, kept they at bay for the rest of the half.

Harp pushed forward after the break and were unlucky when a glancing header from Joe Holmes bounced off the keeper’s chest and went over.

Sean Cleary and Joe Holmes continued to harass the Port back line and, just when it looked as if Harp’s play would get them into the game, Port doubled their lead after 75 minutes by netting from a corner.

Just two minutes later a speculative cross from the touchline looped over the Harp defence into the top corner of the net to make it 3-0.

Harp battled to the end but failed to break down an obdurate Port defence and in fact had McFall, McIntyre and the other harp defenders to thank for not going further behind as Port continued to play the long ball catching out Harp consistently as they pushed forward.

The Dumbarton Harp players and management thank Linda and all the DHSC staff for post match hospitality.

HARP: J P McFall, C Niven, N Allen, N McIntyre, J P McEwan, M Holmes, Do McElroy, Brian Docherty, Stephen Gardiner, Sean Cleary, Joe Holmes, Sean McIndewar, Allan Rankin, Steven Dobbin, Brendan Patrick O’Neill and Andrew Ward.