PORT Glasgow gave promotion favourites Blantyre an almighty scare, before eventually losing out in this seven-goal thriller.

A new look Port had Robbie Graham, younger brother of former Port Glasgow and Greenock keeper Sean, in goal, and ex-St Anthony’s centre-half Abu Mansare in as a trialist.

There was a sombre moment just before the match started, with a minute’s silence in tribute to club President Pat Duffy’s wife, Martha, whose funeral took place earlier in the week.

It was Blantyre who had the first chance after just nine minutes, when centre-forward Craig Smith squared the ball to David Galt on the six-yard line, but Port defender Scott Paterson managed to deflect the pass for a corner.

The Port’s first opportunity came five minutes later, when Paterson crossed into the box and Simon McBryde’s header hit the top of the bar and went over.

But the Port took the lead on 21 minutes, when Brendan Grana broke up a Blantyre attack and sent Paul Gordon clear down the left wing.

Gordon then cut inside before firing past Vics keeper Colin Burns and into the net.

However the lead lasted just two minutes, as Blantyre levelled through a controversial penalty.

Galt’s route to goal was blocked by Paterson and Alan Jamieson, but referee David Burns decided the Vics player had been impeded by Paterson and pointed to the spot, from where former Glasgow Perthshire striker David Kirkwood comfortably beat Graham.

The Port were rattled by the spot-kick award and came under sustained pressure as Blantyre grew in confidence.

There were a few near things before the visitors eventually took the lead after 36 minutes, when Smith and Galt combined again for the latter to net.

Two minutes later it was 3-1 as Blantyre again tore through the Port defence, with a three-man attack setting up Kirkwood for a simple tap-in for his second goal of the match. And to complete a calamitous six-minute spell for the Port, the visitors scored yet again three minutes before the interval, when centre-forward Smith controlled the ball 10 yards out and flicked it over Craig Casement’s head before firing home.

However, Port Glasgow were given a glimmer of hope on the stroke of half-time, when Grana fired a free-kick into the top corner of the net.

It was never likely that the second half would match the six-goal first period for drama, and until the 70th minute there was little of note.

But Blantyre were then reduced to 10 men when keeper Burns was red-carded for deliberate hand-ball outside the box as Brendan Sharp ran through on goal from a pass from Grana.

And things got very interesting just a minute later when Gordon dinked a shot over the replacement keeper and into the net to peg the score back to 4-3.

Blantyre were feeling the heat now and had another player sent off, this time for remarks to the referee.

With strikers Graham Black and Scott Nugent now on as subs, the Port had a great chance to salvage a point against the nine-men Vics.

But they huffed and puffed in the closing stages and were restricted to long-range efforts, with the only real chance falling to Nugent, but the striker uncharacteristically opted to square the ball rather than have an attempt at goal himself.

Indeed, it was actually Blantyre who finished the match on the front foot, and it took two outstanding saves from trialist keeper Graham to prevent the Vics from putting the issue beyond doubt.

Port boss Craig Brown said: “When Blantyre went down to nine men, we tried to rush things in the last 15 minutes, and kind of panicked trying for a goal, rather than holding on to the ball. But overall, it was a decent performance.” Port Glasgow: Graham, McClement (Nugent 70), Paterson, Casement (Black 75), Mansare, D. McKay, McBryde (McCormick 82), Grana, Sharp, Gordon, Jamieson. Subs not used: F. McKay, McDowell.

Port Glasgow Juniors are sponsored by Regents Vehicle Sales, Greenock, and WJ.