City of Derry grab crucial bonus point victory over Portadown

Portadown . . . . . . . . . . . 22

City of Derry . . . . . . . . . .26

City of Derry underlined their growing Championship One title credentials with a superb bonus point victory over Portadown at a wind swept Chambers Park on Saturday.

The victory keep Richard McCarter's team third in the table, tucked in nicely just behind the Division's top two of Ballyclare and Enniskillen with only eight points covering the leading four clubs. And with both of the leading teams due at Judges Road in the New Year, McCarter said he was delighted to see Derry back mixing it with the best junior clubs in Ulster.

"There's nothing really in it at the top and this is where we want to be," admitted McCarter after Saturday's 22-26 win, "We are ticking along under the radar quite nicely I think.

"All the talk is about Ballyclare and Enniskillen but we are there or thereabouts, within striking distance, and those two have to come to Judges Road in the New Year which makes them 'must wins' for us if we want to have ambitions of finishing first or second. At the minute we are comfortably in the top four and that was the aim at the start of the year but the hard work now is to push on again.

"Last year was a season of two halves for us. We were disappointing in the first half and excellent in the second. I don't think we ever made the top four at any stage so to be in the mix, and for us to have done well in all the competitions so far, we are definitely far more consistent and there is much more confidence about us this season.

"I think we're more of a threat this year than we were last year and, as I said, you can't be too critical when we are sitting third in the table behind Enniskillen and Ballyclare - two very good teams - but it's nice to see our name in the mix as well."

Saturday's win was scored by two more tries from the prolific David Lapsley and one each from Ross McLaughlin and Jack Beattie but Derry didn't have things all their own way. Despite scoring the opening try, Derry soon found themselves behind only to first level at 12-12 and then grab a try with the last play of the opening half to lead 12-19 at the break.

The visitors extended that lead to 26-12 in an impressive counter attacking second half against the elements but, as they had at Judges Road earlier in the season, two late Portadown tries meant it was a nervous few final minutes before Derry's five points were confirmed.

"It was a strange type of game," added the Derry Head Coach, "There was a huge wind down the middle of the pitch which we had in the opening half but we weren't playing well at all. However we scored a very good try with the last play to go in ahead at half-time.

"We were able to regroup during the break and we played really well into the wind in the second half. We counter attacked well, Killene Thornton in particular counter attacked well for us really well and we scored a very good try to get the bonus point.

"But because of the wind, even with 10 minutes or so to go, it was never a foregone conclusion but I'm delighted. It was great to get the bonus point up there in particular. It keep us ticking along nicely."

And there was praise for one of Derry's unsung heroes, try scorer David Lapsley who took advantage of great work by out-half Alex McDonnell to grab the score of the game on a day Derry couldn't afford to lose.

"David is playing really well at the minute, like the whole team. He scores most weeks," explained McCarter, "His first try was a penalty advantage and Alex just chipped it over the top but he gathered it well to score under the posts. The second one he had to show a bit of strength but he's going well.

"We had to win the game and I was a bit worried all week because it was one of those potential banana skin fixtures. Portadown are a dangerous enough side, especially at home and especially given the fact they beat Cooke only a couple of weeks back. You could see even in the warm-up they were really up for the game.

"To get out of there with a win was excellent but to get the full five points was really, really satisfying."

The victory sets Derry up nicely for their final fixture before Christmas, Saturday's home revenge mission against bottom of the table Carrick who have defeated the 'Green and Black' twice in three league fixtures since Derry dropped into junior rugby, a run that includes October's shock 9-5 victory, Carrick's only league win of the season to date.

"Look, we owe Carrick one but as someone pointed out to me on Saturday, we have played Carrick three times in the league over the last two seasons and they've beaten us twice so it is not going to be a forgone conclusion," warned McCarter.

"If we play well we have a great chance of winning but we haven't tended to play too well against them in recent times. We definitely owe them one but we have to have the right attitude. If we just expect to turn up and win it could be a disappointing day and we just cannot afford to lose a game like this."