Bangor 4 v 3 Portadown

In the greater scheme of things, sport may be no more than a glorious irrelevance , but the capacity to entertain and dismay is endless. This season the 4^th Xl have endured frustrating fortunes in their Junior League 3 campaign, but in the Junior Shield have progressed in obdurate fashion to the semi-finals.

Two weeks ago, in the quarter final, they surged back from a two goal half time deficit to Annadale 4s to record a noteworthy 4-2 victory. Last Saturday, at a sun kissed  Ballykillaire, the second half performance was not as emphatic, but the outcome proved very satisfactory. Initially, play was somewhat disjointed, neither side able to produce moves of any real fluidity.

 Bangor had one or two early bursts forward, the pace and directness of Messrs Harper, Wilson and R.Parker promising a restless afternoon for the visitors Portadown 2ndXl. But within ten minutes play had become restricted to the midfield areas, the ball ping- ponging around at reasonable pace , but ultimately with little meaningful purpose. Portadown were neat in possession and were marginally the quicker in attack but did not overtly threaten the Bangor goal.

 Indeed , it was Bangor who struck first. Stranaghan initiated the move, moving from defence to find Patterson. Patterson then linked with Halliday who quickly passed on to Wilson to the right of the circle. The cross was early and accurate, Harper closing in quickly. His initial effort was parried but the follow up was sharp and decisive, the ball neatly lobbed over the prostrate keeper. Ten minutes later it was 2-0, with an almost exact replica of the first goal. This time it was Halliday, incisive throughout, who provided the pass and Harper it was who pounced again. Short corners followed, but Stranaghan was unusually erratic with his shooting, generally in an upward direction.

And as a consequence, the denouement to the half proved particularly galling to Bangor. Having squandered chances to increase their lead, they were in fact pegged back, a short corner deflection evading McAvoy in goal.

At half time Messrs Mairs and Shields warned of avoiding déjà vu. Too many times this season Bangor have failed to capitalise on long periods of ascendancy and allowed opponents too much leeway. At the start of the second half , it was evident they had heeded the warning well. First Irvine linked with Parker on the right and the resultant pass found Coughlin at the head of the circle. His first touch was sure and his second saw the ball fairly fizz into the bottom left hand corner. Five minutes later it was 4-1, Harper completing a predatory hat trick with a sweeping connection to another cross from Irvine.

And then, Bangor contrived to make things difficult. First they conceded from a short corner switch and then possession was ceded in the Portadown circle. Wilson, the initial culprit, covered well to atone for his error, but in seeping the ball from McEvoys pads, succeeded only in finding a Portadown forward.