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In the glorious
last and golden throes of a splendid summer, Bangor fourths travelled to
Kilkeel with a reasonable degree of hope but left on the wrong end of a
2-1 scoreline.
Both sides had been promoted from Junior League Four and recognised the
importance of a winning start to establish at least an initial foothold in
their new surroundings.
Bangor started the brighter, forcing Kilkeel to hurry passes and cede
concession much more often than they would have liked. Harper, full of
nuisance value as always, made one very direct break but the home keeper
parried wide.
For the opening ten minutes, it was the visitors who carried slightly more
potency, their approach play was particularly concise, but unfortunately
petered out a tad too lamely in the final third.
Kilkeel capitalised on an errant midfield pass to break forward. First
fixtures always pose problems in terms of new teammates having sufficient
familiarity with each other to anticipate problems. Here, a gap appeared,
and a home player progressed unimpeded to shoot past McEvoy.
Then, further misfortune. A somewhat fortunate deflection presented
Kilkeel with an unexpected three against two and the lead was doubled.
Bangor renewed their efforts and a fluid move, originating on the left
with a pass from Wilson to Irvine, then saw the ball arrive at the stick
of Campbell on the right. His short run created adequate space for a cross
and Harper swivelled adroitly to flick past the keeper.
In the second half, Bangor retained their shape and form. Their passing
was the more accurate and the midfield promptings of Irvine and Halliday
became more frequent. Harper went close again, as did Campbell when freed
by an astute ball from Cooke. Yet no reward was forthcoming and as the
half progressed, Kilkeel enjoyed their own purple patch. Their main thrust
was via short corner efforts, but Douglas was quick to break and tackle
whilst McEvoy in goal kicked more then efficiently when called upon.
In the closing minutes it was Bangor whose efforts were the more
concerted. Wilson ought to have progressed further when free on the left,
and Harper was unfortunate not to nudge a final pass to Campbell with the
keeper prostrate. Ferguson had perhaps the best chance of all , his
rasping drive narrowly whizzing past the post. It was to be the final
meaningful attempt on goal and Bangor returned home accompanied by a sun
filled sky but with no points
Man of the match was Sam Halliday.
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