Two quick fire goals in the first five minutes of the second half helped Strathroy to victory over rivals Enniskillen Town on Saturday. A Stephen Chambers penalty gave Town an early advantage but the reigning champions hit back to take all three points and maintain their perfect start to the season.

Despite the defeat, Town manager Rory Judge was upbeat about his side’s efforts. “The result was disappointing but the performance wasn’t,” he said. “I thought we played really well but we were punished for every mistake we made. For long stretches we were the better team and played the better football but we have a fragility at the back and we seem to panic and concede goals out of nothing. We were punished to the max for any slight mistake we made. We need to tighten up at the back and the boys need to take a wee bit more responsibility there but the bigger picture is that we are going in the right direction as far as I’m concerned.” Harps’ boss Seamus Fanthorpe was delighted with the victory, which makes it three wins out of three for his side this season. “At 3-1 we were in the comfort zone with a two goal cushion and we were happy to absorb whatever they had,” he said. “We started to drop a bit too deep and they got a goal but we upped it another gear and produced a goal from Darren Teague that was worthy of winning any game. I think our win was well deserved. We’ve had Killen away which is never easy and Lisbellaw at home and now Town away. We have had three tough tests and we have passed all of them so I am happy with how things have gone so far. Every test that has been fired at us we have passed with flying colours and there is a wee bit of belief there again.” After an evenly contested opening quarter to the game Town were handed a great opportunity when a Ryan Hanna effort struck the arm of full back Mark Sloane in the penalty area. The referee pointed to the spot, and Stephen Chambers made no mistake from 12 yards, sending the keeper the wrong way to give the home side the lead. Town thought they had added a second when a corner was fumbled by the keeper and bounced into the net, but the referee’s whistle for a foul ruled it out, and Strathroy were soon level. Aidan McCaffrey found left back Martin Flanagan and although his shot came back off the bar, the rebound fell to Patrick Nugent who headed into the unguarded net.

Pat Cadden in the Town goal was called upon to make saves from Darren Teague, Gareth McCrory and Patrick Nugent, but he could do nothing at the start of the second half when Harps netted twice in quick succession. A Benny Boyle header from a McCaffrey cross gave the away side the lead, and minutes later they extended their lead further when McCaffrey dispossessed Conor Watson and exchanged a one two with Darren Teague before powering a shot in off the underside of the bar from a tight angle.

In the aftermath of the goals Harps were producing the more effective football, but Town slowly came back into the game and Darren McQuaid had several chances to pull a goal back, but after hitting the crossbar, he headed a hat-trick of chances wide of the target. Ryan Hanna was the next to hit the frame of the goal when well placed, but their pressure was eventually rewarded when Thomas Owens headed in a Brendan Lilley cross.

Before they could press for an equaliser however Harps’ grabbed a decisive fourth goal when a misplaced pass from Matty Crawford was collected by Darren Teague, and he fired a long range effort from 25 yards into the top corner.