Coleraine Secures 3-0 Victory Over Portadown in Irish Premiership
Irish Premiership
Coleraine 3 – 0 Portadown FT
Coleraine marked a successful return to form with a convincing 3-0 victory against Portadown, who sit at the bottom of the league, at the Showgrounds.
Jay Henderson opened the scoring for the home side just before halftime with a brilliant long-range shot. Ben Wylie then extended the lead on the brink of halftime.
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Six minutes into the second half, Divin Isamla inadvertently added to Coleraine’s tally, scoring an own goal under pressure from Adam Brooks, as Coleraine continued to assert their dominance.
Joel Cooper nearly added a fourth late in the game, but his powerful shot narrowly missed the target, hitting the wrong side of the crossbar.
Coleraine Dominance Pays Off
The hosts started the match strongly, creating several early opportunities, but Adam Brooks and Ben Wylie failed to convert after some promising build-up play along the wings.
Brooks, recruited this summer from Crusaders, missed another good chance midway through the first half, heading wide from close range after excellent setup work by Joe Thomson.
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The closest they came to scoring during the first half-hour was after a chaotic moment inside the penalty area. Aaron McCarey made a fantastic save to deny a close-range header from Ben Wylie, with Jay Henderson’s follow-up effort striking the post.
Finally, with eight minutes left in the first half, the home side broke the deadlock through Henderson’s fourth goal of the season. Picking up the ball midway into Portadown’s half, he unleashed a powerful low shot from 30 yards that found the back of the net.
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Just before the halftime whistle, Ben Wylie netted his first goal for Coleraine at the Showgrounds. Following a slick pass from central defender Cameron Stewart, Wylie rounded McCarey and slotted the ball into an empty net.
The score increased to 3-0 shortly after the restart, as Portadown’s Divin Isamla scored an own goal while trying to defend against a dangerous cross from Lyndon Kane, which was posed by Brooks.
While Coleraine sought to put more distance between themselves and Portadown in the late stages, Joel Cooper’s shot from the edge of the area sailed just over the bar.
Portadown struggled offensively through the night, with Michael Hewitt coming closest to scoring with a header that narrowly missed the target during the second half, leaving them firmly at the bottom of the league.
