Copany Rovers' promotion hopes took a massive dent when they were comprehensively beaten by Dunlewey on a sunny day, but in difficult playing conditions in Dunlewey. Two uncharacteristic defensive errors in the first half sent Dunlewey sailing to a two-nil lead, which proved too much for the Rovers to claw back.
A cut up pitch and a heavy swirling wind made for a poor game of football, despite the sunshine, where get-rid was the order of the day for both defenses.
Copany actually started the brighter of the two sides and after 4 minutes Darryl Duncan broke free down the left, but as he broke into the box waswell tackled by a Dunlewey defender.
On nine minutes, a defensive error allowed Gary McCafferty through on goal, but his chipped effort from 25 yards fell the wrong side of the post.
This was to be as good as it got for Copany, as Dunlewey started to take control in all areas of the pitch for the remainder of the first half. Dunlewey started to show their experience of playing in these kind of conditions, and were quicker at reading which direction the ball was going to go than their opponents.
It was an uncharacteristic error from Aaron Scott that let Dunlewey in for their first goal on 15 minutes, when his header back to the keeper fell short, and a Dunlewey striker poached in to score the opener.
The same striker then saw his effort from well outside the box fall the wrong side of the post on 26 minutes.
The killer blow for Copany came on the stroke of half-time, with Dunlewey's second. William Given initially did well to win the ball off a breaking attacker, but his pass to the keeper was too short, and the same attacker nicked in to chip the ball gloriously over Joe Gallagher.
Copany started the second half with more urgency, but despite all their probing, they found the Dunlewey defense too tough to open up all afternoon.
Dunlewey scored their third after 64 minutes when slack marking allowed a break down the right hand side, and the ball was crossed to the back post where the Dunlewey left midfielder met the ball sweetly and sent it to the roof of the net.
Darryl Duncan saw his free kick late on well tipped over by the keeper, but it was Dunleweys day in the end.
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