Patterson looking to build momentum after Strabane book cup final place

FOLLOWING a period of some disruption it would appear that things are beginning to settle down at Strabane Athletic and on Saturday the north Tyrone outfit reached their first cup final under the guidance of new player-manager Rory Patterson.

Patterson scored the only goal of the game as Athletic, despite having two players sent off, defeated rivals Maiden City in the semi-final of the Craig Memorial Cup.

That means Athletic now look forward to the Boxing Day final against Premier Intermediate League side Portstewart which is traditionally played at Tobermore’s Fortwilliam Park.

For Patterson, Athletic’s fourth manager in the space of six months, it’s an occasion to look forward to after his players had to go to the well a few times against City at the Brandywell.

“Saturday was a tough game, obviously Maiden City are flying high and full of confidence,” he said.

“We did enough to stifle them and we got the goal early enough and managed to see it through. We felt hard done by a couple of decisions but that’s football as they say.

“We are trying to instill character in the whole club from top to bottom, turning up and thinking you’re going to breeze through isn’t going to be enough.

“First and foremost it’s about hard work and Saturday was probably the first real test of what we had in the tank and there was plenty of it for everyone to see.

“Strabane like the underdog tag, we’ll stay under the radar as much as we can ahead of the final. Portstewart are a league above so I’m assuming they will be a tougher test than Maiden City. They will obviously be decent but we are not focusing on what other teams are doing it’s how we turn up and our approach to it that’s the key moving forward.”

Strabane backed up Saturday’s result with a 5-0 victory over Dungiven Celtic in an outstanding Northern Ireland Intermediate League game at Melvin on Tuesday night.

On Saturday Patterson and his players kick off their Northern Ireland Intermediate League campaign at home to Trojans and the player-boss is hoping his charges can continue their recent good form.

“Tuesday night was all about backing it up. There was no point going to the Brandywell and getting a result like that and not producing the goods against Dungiven,” he continued

“Technically we haven’t been beaten since I came in and we’re just trying to keep that run going, keep that momentum going because the league starts on Saturday.

“You just want to build things up and take that mometum into the league and hit the ground running.”

Against Dungiven, Declan Sharkey grabbed a sparkling hat-trick while Fionn Faherty registered a splendid brace.

Meanwhile ex-Strabane boss Eamon Curry guided his Finn Harps U15 team to National Cup glory by defeating Cork City 2-0 on Saturday.