For the second time in three days, Johnstown secured progression in knockout competitions with a highly competitive 3-2 Tully Cup win over Division 3 side Albion Rovers at the MDL on Friday Night.

With the game just one minute old, Albion broke swiftly down their right and delivered a cross to the back post where the waiting man could not take advantage of his free header. A portent of what was to come.

Just 4 minutes later, a Johnstown pass in midfield was charged down. The ball rebounded to an Albion striker clear of the defence. Despite protestations from the home side, he bore down on goal before giving his side the lead at the second attempt after his initial effort came back off the post.

For much of the opening half hour, Johnstown failed to impose any control over their lower division opponents with Albion looking much the better side.

Then with 32 minutes on the clock, Johnstown began a spell of 3 goals in 9 minutes.

First, Sean Challenger showed great vision to release Arnold Luco down the right. Luco cut infield and across the 18 yard line, passed a number of Albion defenders before pulling his left footed shot back across the keeper and into the net.

Five minutes later, Kacper Zeberek made it 2-1. Taking possession in midfield, Zeberek turned and ran at the defence, beating 3 players before unleashing an unstoppable shot from distance that dipped over the keeper into the net.

On 41 minutes, the combination of Challenger and Luco proved decisive once again for the home side. Challenger’s perfect through ball found Luco cutting in from the right. Despite the keeper’s best efforts, the Johnstown man’s shot found the inside of the far post giving his side a 3-1 lead going into the break.

During a second half dominated by the home side, Johnstown should have put the game to bed. A number of chances went abegging.

With 15 minutes to go, Luco raced clear. He rounded the advancing keeper, but only succeeded in further narrowing his angle. From this tighter position, he watched his attempt ricochet off the foot of the near post and away.

Two minutes later, Albion pulled a goal back as they finished across Dylan Byrne in the Johnstown net to set up a nervy end to the game.

The Louth side finished off the game with 2 excellent chances to get back on level terms. However they were thwarted on both occasions by Byrne.

With Albion constantly probing for the equaliser, the final whistle was greeted with more sighs of relief than outright celebration as Johnstown avoided a cup shock and moved onto the next round.

Johnstown FC Team: D. Byrne, D. Bollard, J. Colton, D. McQuillan (c), D. Grumley, W. Cahill, S. Ivers, S. Challenger, V. Murphy, K. Zeberek, A. Luco
Subs: A. Ivers for Murphy, A, Sirb for Cahill, J. Caffery for Challenger