Nortel set for top flight return, despite 4-0 drubbing

Glen McCartney’s side had done the business in their ‘must win’ tussle during the week, winning 2-0 against fellow strugglers Shankill United at the Hammer, thanks to second half goals from Chris Monteith and Dale Fenner.

Yet the joy was tempered slightly when news filtered through that Comber Rec had beaten Derriaghy CC.

A win for Comber in their last game, against championship chasing Ards Rangers at Park Way would cancel out the gains Nortel made at the Hammer.

McCartney said: “We thought we learnt by our mistakes from the week before but again we just didn’t get out of the traps. It was the same starting 11 and same formation as against Shankill, but you would have thought it was two different teams. Derriaghy weren’t brilliant but they were better than us - we just couldn’t get going for some reason.

“Four nil was hard to take, but then news filtered through of the Comber result. I thought we would have felt brilliant, being safe but the boys were totally deflated, for they wanted to do the job themselves!”

Nortel bring their campaign to a close with a trip to Immaculata on May 9.

Nortel; Malone – Monteith, Cardwell, Freyne, T Clarke (Moore) – J Clarke, Lorrimer, Lenaghan, Kirkpatrick (Hamill) (Bloomfield) – Caughey – Fenner.