Bangor 4 v 2 Banbridge

Bangor returned to winning ways on Saturday at Ballykillare with a 4-2 victory over Banbridge in Junior League One.

The match began at a high tempo as Bangor held their foot firmly on the accelerator.  Allen Irwin bagged Bangor’s first goal as he drilled home a penalty corner strike after sustained pressure on the visitor’s back line.

Stewart Kirk and Paddy Macalister were making good use of space available on the right hand side of the pitch and were at the heart of Bangor’s attacks in the first 20 minutes.  Gareth Stranaghan claimed Bangor’s second as he fired home past the Bann goalkeeper after good work from Ryan Whiteside on the right wing.

Sloppy defending allowed Banbridge to pull a goal back from a penalty corner shortly before the half time whistle when a kind rebound fell to an attacker’s stick.

After stern words during the half time interval Bangor become their own worst enemy conceding yet another needless penalty corner to which Banbridge duly obliged as they restored parity with a rasping strike into the Bangor goal.

As the match progressed Bangor's superior fitness began to tell as scoring opportunities were appearing regularly as they continually pressed the Banbridge defence.

Bangor eventually regained the lead through after an excellent passing move from their 18-yard line. The ball was worked up the right hand side of the pitch through Simon Cox and Stewart Kirk and Gareth Stranaghan was in the right place slap the ball past the Bann goalkeeper.

With only four minutes remaining on the clock Banbridge took the attack to Bangor.  A nervous finish from the home side saw them concede yet another needless penalty corner. Andrew Gowdy took the ball off his own goal line and within three passes, involving Cox, Kirk and Whiteside, David McClune sent the ball high into the Banbridge net to score Bangor's fourth goal.

Bangor travel to Newry this Saturday to take on the newly promoted Newry in what should see the visitors as favourites for the two points.

Man of the match was Stewart Kirk and special thanks to Timmy Campbell and Chris Harte for umpiring.