McPartland hits hat trick as Cookstown RBL beat Desertmartin Swifts

DESERTMARTIN SWIFTS 1

Cookstown RBL bounced back from a poor performance against Cookstown Olympic to take all three points against a determined Desertmartin side.

Stephen Purvis put RBL ahead midway through the first half with a bullet header from a well taken corner by Steven Ramsey. Purvis, playing up front as a target man, used all his experience to harass the Desertmartin defence at every opportunity as well as hold the front line together.

With Purvis playing havoc in the Desertmartin defence this allowed space for James McPartland to threaten with his pace and he took this opportunity with two goals before half time.

The first was a good passing move involving Lee Hunter and Steven Ramsey which put McPartland in to slot home a well worked move. Desertmartin made sure the RBL had to work hard for their win and, but for poor finishing, could have scored on two occasions.

Just before half time James McPartland gave RBL the cushion they needed when he found space and time in the box to hammer his second and the Legion’s third goal. In the second half Desertmartin showed great determination to get back into the game and had several chances to score.

Their efforts paid off when a defensive error was pounced on to give Desertmartin a fighting chance. RBL took all three points and put the game out of reach when James Dunn scored from a cross from James McPartland who was without doubt man of the match.

Cookstown RBL have a tough away fixture this Saturday against Antrim Rovers at 2pm.

Cookstown RBL: N. Young, J. Taylor, G. Donaldson, L. Smith, A. McPartland, G. Ramsey, T. Ferguson, L. Hunter, S. Ramsey, J. McPartland, S. Purvis, J. Dunn, B. Gray, G. Hull, G. Smyton