A GREAT STRANE; Down but not out.

DOWNPATRICK manager Paul Straney is hopeful that he and his players have survived most of the worst of what this season has to throw at them.

The Premier Section outfit were brought to within a whisker of a shock Steel & Sons Cup exit against Newington Rangers on Saturday - only to be saved by a dramatic late equaliser and extra time clincher.

They went from being 2-0 up to falling 3-2 behind with five minutes to go, before taking to the game to extra-time, when Kevin Trueman spared Downpatrick's blushes with the timely winner.

Straney confessed: "We were good going forward, but we were making defensive mistakes left, right, and centre.

"We had a difficult summer with all the talk around the club's ex-managers, and we were missing a lot of players through Gaelic commitments.

"In fact, we have been missing about 7 players on average, and making 4 or 5 changes to the team on a weekly basis. Our right back was playing in the centre of defence at the weekend."

But the clash between Gaelic and soccer will soon be a thing of the past for another season, and Straney, inset, believes that improved relations between both clubs in Downpatrick has helped. This Saturday sees Downpatrick take on UUJ in the Border Cup, and given last weekend's events, there's little chance of them taking their opponents lightly.

Even still, Straney remains confident of what the future holds for his team.

"I think we are starting to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel now," he added.