Promotion chances hanging by a thread

Cherryvale, Sunday 17 March 2002, 1:30PM

Dub FC (0)2 Chester Park FC (0)5

On the evidence from last Sunday's match at Cherryvale Dub FC may still have an outside chance of promotion but only if they play against eleven men for the rest of the season!

Dub played Chester Park knowing that a win could leapfrog them over their rivals and into second place. Sadly, a number of costly errors in the final 15 minutes, let Chester in to score three goals and record a 5-2 victory. That these should happen at a time when Dub had an extra man om the pitch only served to compound the team's frustration.

Dub started poorly and conceeded a goal in the third minute. Dub responded 6 minutes later when a searing run from Michael Smyth lead to him being brought down in the box. The midfielder picked himself up and regained his composure to coolly slot home his eight goal of the season.

This gave Dub the cofidence to press forward and after 15 minutes they won a corner from the right. Shane Murphy crossed it into the box and Cormac Kernan met it with a sweet volley that bounced down into the ground and over the keepper's head.

The rest of the half saw Chester Park have the majority of possession but Dub matched them with skill and determination with the central midfield pairing of Shane Murphy and John Quinn working exceptionally hard. Towards the end of the firsr half Dub needlessly lost the ball from a throw in their own half and Chester Park capitalised and steered home the equaliser. Despite this mistake Dub's defence played well in the first half with Mark Harvey and Gareth Dickson outstanding and Kristian Hill having one of his best games of the season.

The second half saw Chester Park dominate all the early exchanges and despite flashes of great skill from Sean Mulllan Dub struggled to keep possession. Some good saves from Colm Kernan and last-ditch defending kept the scores level.

With 20 minutes to go Dub should have gone on and won the game when Chester Park were reduced to 10 men when they had a player come off the pitch injured having used all their substitutions. Sadly this only provided the catalyst for Chester to run away with the game. Soon after Sean Mullan scored an unfortunate own goal and two other clumsy mistakes helped Chester Park go 5-2 in front. Dub's only riposte came when Mullan volleyed narrowly wide. A bad result for Dub and for the third time this season they failed to beat 10 men.

Dub must now try to win their last three games of the season. Not an easy task considering they have to play League champions Hotspurs and third-placed Belfast Albion twice.

Team: Colm Kernan, K Hill, G Dickson, M Harvey, S Doherty, S Mullan, S Murphy, J Quinn, M Smyth, C Kernan, B. Houston

Subs: C Sherrard for B Houston (50 mins), B. Gribben for Cormac Kernan (66 mins), J Magee for S. Murphy (78 mins), N. Ward

Goals: M Smyth (pen) 9 mins, C Kernan 15 mins

Rose & Crown Man of the Match: M Harvey

Squad

Barry Houston, Brian Gribbin, Chris Sherrard, Colm Kernan, Michael Smyth, Shane Murphy, Mark Harvey, Sean Doherty, Gareth Dickson, John Quinn, Sean Mullan, John Magee, Kristian Hill, Cormac Kernan

Subs

Match Statistics

Goals	Cormac Kernan Michael Smyth
Assists	-
Yellow cards	Shane Murphy
Red cards	-
Man of the match	Mark Harvey