The young Colts side faced a strong Portaferry Rovers team in tonight's Ards Borough Tournament quarter final clash at Londonderry Park.

Ards were missing a few of their young Milk Cup stars as well as the holidaying Mark Drysdale and Scott Robbie but were bolstered by the debut of Thomas Gorman who had just been released by Glentoran. It was Ards who started the brighter team moving the ball well and keeping it tight at the back.

Gorman showed an early sign of intent when he used his pace to burst away from the Portaferry defenders but his left foot shot was easily gathered by the keeper. Ards then took an early lead when a lovely diagonal ball from the right cut through the Portaferry defence and Chris Cowden kept his cool to calmly stroke the ball through the keeper's legs to make it 1-0.

Portaferry then showed a bit of intent in this game as they came back hard at the Colts using their experience and strength up front to give the backline food for thought. Ards' teenage back four dealt well with the long balls placed up to them and in particular Jamie Patterson showed great maturity in his performance.

It was Thomas Gorman then who showed Ards exactly why they had worked so hard to get him released by Glentoran. Gorman showed excellent acceleration to take him away from two Portaferry defenders before rifling a low shot into the corner of the net from an acute angle.

A third goal quickly followed for the Colts and it was recent first teamer Gary Sharratt who got on the scoresheet. Sharratt raced on to a long ball played from the back which looked as though the opposing goalkeeper would get to it first. The keeper's kick however ended up hiting his own defender and Sharratt was on hand to take the ball away and slot it into the empty net to make it a 3-0 scoreline at the break.

All credit to Portaferry though who showed exactly why they won the domestic league and cup double last year by coming at the Colts hard after the break. With ten minutes gone of the second half they eventually broke the Ards offside trap down the right hand side and with a quick ball into the middle the Portaferry number 9 was on hand to drill the ball into the net.

If Portaferry showed courage to pull themselves back into the game then Ards more than matched that by not letting the goal upset their rhythm and getting their shape back. Portaferry then started to dish a few tackles out to try and break the young lads spirit but all that resulted was 2 yellow cards for the opposition. Ards kept working with every shot being closed down and every ball winning opportunity went for.

The game then was settled as a contest when Gorman again showed what pace and a fantastic eye for goal he has by catching on to another through ball and poking it around the advancing keeper to make it 4-1. A few efforts then went begging for the Colts as Newberry headed against the bar from a Sharratt corner, Sharratt himself failed with a bouncing one on one scenario and Gorman failed for his hat trick when he tried to chip the keeper from 18 yards.

We didn't have to wait long though for the debutant to finally receive his hat trick when he broke clear down the right hand side, drove into the box and found a gap between the near post and the keeper to slot in his third of the night. Not a bad way to celebrate your first game in Ards colours especially in front of watching first team manager Tommy Kincaid.

Ards now go into the semi finals on Thursday night to face Ballywalter Rec.

Lee Forsythe

Ards Colts Team 1 Jason Mooney, 2 Ryan McGarvey, 3 Kerri Grant, 4 Andrew Ross, 5 Jamie Patterson capt., 6 Craig McConkey, 7 Matthew Harper, 8 Ryan Newberry, 9 Gary Sharratt, 10 Thomas Gorman, 11 Chris Cowden

Substitutes 12 David Moore (for Sharratt), 14  Nathan McVeigh (for McConkey), 15 Kyle Anderson (for Newberry)

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