The Belfast side was completely dominated by a large, well drilled Portadown pack who denied any quick supply of ball to a hungry Cooke backline.
Play commenced at a tempestuous pace and it took less than 5 minutes before Portadown centre Halliday had broken through the Cooke defence for an unconverted try. The visitors regrouped immediately and within 5 minutes fullback Cartmill levelled the score. Play see-sawed back to the
Cooke end and with a quarter of an hour on the clock home fullback Chambers touched down under the posts offering Cousens an easy conversion.
Undeterred, Cooke came back strongly. When Cochrane was stopped close to the line the resultant Portadown scrum was penalised. Seeking a greater return Murphy elected not to kick for goal but placed the ball in the corner for an attacking line-out. With the ball secured and momentum with the visitors, a clear opportunity was squandered by an over complicated move in the mid field allowing Portadown to kick a loose ball straight back into the Cooke 22.
Playing to their strengths Portadown opted for a scrum in front of the Cooke posts when the visitors were penalised for entering a ruck from the side. With clean possession, scrum-half Whitten picked up and dashed over close to the corner though failing to convert his own try. Having already lost second row Dawson due to injury the visitor’s misfortunes were compounded just before half time when prop O’Hanlon was sin binned for over enthusiastic rucking. Cousens’ penalty attempt was wide leaving the score-line at the interval at 17-5 in Portadown’s favour.
Cooke commenced the second half aggressively with Jarvis making a good break up the left wing. Territory gained was however conceded too frequently by the malfunctioning Cooke line-out. Portadown supremacy in the scrum was less evident when veteran loose-head Neilly went off
injured and when scrum-half Whitten was yellow carded the home pack still exerted enough control to deny Cooke any quick possession. Try four for Portadown, with ten minutes remaining, was a text book back row move. The ball was picked up from the base of a scrum by Portadown captain Lambe who shielded off defenders for flanker O’Kane to carry the ball over the line. Cousens converted. With five minutes remaining winger Jackson put the icing on the cake for Portadown evading some weak Cooke tackling to place the ball beneath the posts for Cousens to complete the scores at Portadown 31 Cooke 5
There are few positive aspects to highlight from this game but the tireless defensive work of Cochrane and McVicker should be acknowledged. This league is going to be exceptionally competitive and Cooke performances can only improve. With a free Saturday next week, the team has an opportunity to correct problem areas and give casualties time to recover fully. Better days must surely lie ahead.
