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Portland 4 Sturminster Marshall 2
Dorset Premier league Cup Group A
Stur Line-up:
1. Paul Maitland,
2. Ryan Mole, 3. Rob Morley, 4. Craig MacLeod, 5. Lloyd Bird, 6. Graham Duff, 7.
Mark Henson, 8. Ross Humphrey, 9. Darrell Williams, 10. Will Gage, 11. Phil
Sweetland
Substitutes:
12. Matt Jones (for
Henson 70), 14. Jules Starling (for Gage 80)
Goals:
Stur: Duff, Henson
Portland: Whyton,
Doige, Halloran, Linaker
Star man: Will Gage
Last season’s
beaten finalists started this season’s league Cup campaign with a 4-2 victory
over Sturminster Marshall.
Stur were slow to
settle into the game and were punished in the 5th minute when Whyton
opened the scoring for the home side. There was more than a suspicion of offside
when he picked up a pass in the inside right position. Everyone stopped and
waited for the linesman to flag, but the official had been holding a
conversation with a spectator and so play went on. The Portland forward couldn’t
believe his luck and fired home past the advancing Maitland.
Stur recovered well
from the setback and began to get to grips with the game. Graham Duff equalised
on the half hour when he hit an unstoppable shot from 30 yards. Stur were on top
at this point, so it was cruel when, on the stroke of half time, stand-in full
back Rob Morley was penalised for an innocuous looking tackle in the box and
Doige converted the resulting penalty.
Stur had the better
of the opening second half exchanges, but fell further behind when a neat
Portland move carved open the defence, leaving Halloran with an easy chance.
Stur clawed their
way back into the game again and were rewarded for their efforts when they
pulled a goal back in the 70th minute. Williams was fouled as he
tried to cut into the box from the left and found Henson with a quickly taken
free kick. Henson made no mistake and fired the ball into the bottom corner of
the net.
Stur pushed forward
in search of an equaliser but Linaker put the result beyond all reasonable doubt
when he netted the hosts 4th in the 82nd minute.
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