PORT Glasgow may have been beaten, but they still gave a good account of themselves at one of Junior football’s toughest venues on Saturday.

Had the Port not given themselves a mountain to climb after losing two goals in the opening 25 minutes, they might have made Irvine Meadow work much harder for their win in this first round tie in the West of Scotland Cup.

After an evenly contested opening 15 minutes it was the Super Premier League leaders who took the lead, when Michael Keenan burst through from his own half towards the Port goal.

Kearn Docherty attempted a tackle, but the ball ricocheted back to Keenan, who drilled a shot past Port keeper Bryan Tucker.

It wasn’t proving to be Docherty’s day, and a few minutes later he conceded a penalty with a trip on Paul McLaughlin as the Meadow man appeared to be going nowhere. Mark Staunton fired home to double the Ayrshire side’s advantage.

But the Port refused to let the heads go down, and on 27 minutes Alan Jamieson saw a shot touched round the post, and five minutes before the break a neat move between the two Brendans, Sharpe and Grana, saw the latter get in a shot which was touched over the bar by the Meadow keeper.

However the Port’s already difficult task became all the harder when they conceded a third goal on the stroke of half-time.

Meadow’s McLaughlin was at the heart of it again, touching home from close range after a well-worked move.

The tie may have been all but over by the interval, but the Port were in no mood to leave the Ayrshire town on the back of a really heavy defeat, and a solid second half display regained their credibility, and showed what might have been but for the early slackness in defence.

On 70 minutes Jamieson whipped in a ball from the left which found the head of Mark Bowie, but the new boy’s glancing header went just wide.

And it was Bowie who had the Port’s best chance of the game with 10 minutes remaining, when a Graham Black pass sent him clear on goal, but slight hesitation as he tried to round the keeper allowed a Meadow defender time to get back and make the clearance.

And it was a poor return for the Port’s second half efforts when Mark Thomson scored at the back post after a goalmouth scramble to see Meadow run out 4-0 winners.

Port boss Craig Brown said: ‘’We never really gave ourselves a chance by losing two goals which should have been dealt with.

“But the players didn’t fold, and stood up to be counted after that to turn in a good second half performance, when they tried to get the ball down and play good football.

“Even the Meadow fans at the end admitted that the game was much closer than the 4-0 scoreline would suggest.’’ PORT GLASGOW: Tucker, Gordon, Coyle, Walton, Docherty, Gault, Kearns (Black 45), Grana, Nugent (McAfee 70), Sharpe (Bowie 66), Jamieson. Subs not used: McCormick, Paterson.

Port Glasgow Juniors are sponsored by Regents Vehicle Sales, Greenock, and MAC HSL Ltd.