Nine-man Portland crash out after extra-time agony (From Dorset Echo)

Nine-man Portland crash out after extra-time agony

8:27am Monday 30th January 2012 in Football By Adam Summers

RED CARD: Lewis Whyton

Portland UNITED 1

SWANAGE TOWN & HERSTON 2

ASHLEY Wells and Lewis Whyton both saw red as Portland United suffered a shock home defeat against Swanage Town & Herston in the quarter-finals of the Dorset Premier League Cup.

The Blues entered the tie overwhelming favourites but the Swans fought back from a goal down to eventually win the game in the final minute of extra-time.

Portland boss Stuart Heath said: “We went ahead after 20 minutes through Alex Halloran but we never really went on to take charge of the game.

“They had two lads up front that were a constant threat on the break and on the half-hour they equalised.

“It remained level at the break and then in the second half we went on to create a lot of chances.

“However, we failed to take any of them and in extra-time we paid the price.

“Ashley got sent off for a second bookable offence on 115 minutes and then a long ball over the top caused Lloyd Cranny to bring one of their lads down in the box allowing Swanage to score the winner from the spot with the last kick of the game.

“With frustrations running high, Lewis also picked up a second booking for dissent, and in the end it was a hard result to take. However, we only had ourselves to blame in the end for how wasteful we were.

“Take nothing away from Swanage because they hung in there and kept going right to the end but we should have put the game to bed in the second half and it is important we learn from that.”

The result ends the Dorset Premier League leaders’ hopes of achieving an historic treble but with a Dorset Senior Cup semi-final still to look forward to, as well as a shot at the title, Heath has insisted his team must shake off this setback as soon as possible.

He added: “Although the league has always been our number one priority we wanted to have a good run in this competition and now it is all about how we respond.

“The way we bounce back from this will define our season.”

Paul Best and Liam Currell notched the Swanage goals.

Blues (from): Carroll, Dailey, Whyton, Cranny, Ross-Jennins, Wells, Litherland, Halloran, Toghill, Pattison (Carter 110), Linaker (Bell 65).