Strabane bid to cause cup upset

STRABANE Athletic may be underdogs going into the Craig Memorial Cup Final but try telling that to their player-manager Rory Patterson.

The NI Intermediate League side lock horns with Premier Intermediate League opponents Portstewart in Monday’s showpiece decider at Fortwilliam Park (Kick-off 11.30am).

Athletic’s run to the final has been the highlight of their season thus far with notable victories over Institute U20s, Newtowne and Maiden City earning the north Tyrone outfit their shot at festive glory.

The Seahawks though will start as slight favourites and that was underlined by a quarter-final victory over fellow PIL side Limavady United and semi success against Newbuildings United, a team with ambitions of winning the NI Intermediate League.

While Patterson agrees that on paper his team will be underdogs he insisted Strabane were going to the Tobermore United venue with real intentions of bringing the home the prized silverware.

“It’s a great occasion it’s not every day you get to a cup final. We had a couple of great results to get there, we’ll go and enjoy the occasion,” he said.

“Obviously there is a cup at stake and we’ll do everything within our power to bring it home.

“Any competition we are in, we are in to win it. We don’t pick and choose what we want to win. As I said it’s not every day you get to cup final. We’d have boys who have never played in a cup final. It’ll be a great occasion, we should get a good crowd and hopefully the restrictions don’t come in to play.”

Former FC United of Manchester striker Patterson scored the only goal in the semi-final win over Maiden City and registered twice in the 3-1 last-eight victory over Newtowne.

He, too, was on target in the 2-0 win over a young Stute side.

Aodhan Doherty has also grabbed a couple of goals along the way while at the other end Athletic’s defence has proved up to the task.

While taking on Portstewart will present its challenges, Patterson said he was focused on getting his own house in order rather than worrying too much about the opposition.

“I spoke to someone the other day and they had us down as favourites, I don’t know how that works given they are in a league above us!” continued the player-manager.

“Obviously the team a league above will be favourites but we’ll not worry too much about that.

“We’ll just take care of ourselves, it’s about how we approach it and hopefully we will have enough to push Portstewart all the way.

“Every game we go into we go to win it. We won’t be going there to hold back and not show what we are about.

“We have technical players and players that can cause damage. Obviously we need everybody to turn up on the day and that’s what we’ll be aiming for.

“Hopefully everyone stays clean with this Covid craic and we have a clean bill of health going into it.”