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Bangor 6ths hosted Harlequins on Saturday past in search of their elusive
first win of the
season and with renewed confidence following an encouraging performance
the previous week.
The team welcomed back ‘keeper Ryan Cherry and Neil Walker to the defence.
As was the case
with the corresponding away fixture earlier in the season, the match was
to be a close
contest contrary to what the final score would suggest.
Bangor started the brighter of the two teams, benefiting from plenty of
possession. As
with the previous week, the midfield of Tom Calvert, Brian McKee, Peter
Dornan, and Daniel
McNulty competed well restricting ‘Quins to largely their own half. The
first quarter saw
a succession of Bangor attacking moves with the forward line of Phil
Campbell and James
Currie testing the opposition ‘keeper on a number of occasions. However
all of Bangor’s
industry during this period went unrewarded. As the half progressed,
Harlequins found
their rhythm and steadily began to exert more influence on the game.
Several attacking
moves down both flanks almost resulted in success for the away team but
for some resolute
defensive work by Duncan Morris, Rory McMillan, Chris Dorman, Neil Walker,
and Ryan
Cherry. The introduction of Nathan Mount and Ryan McCalister added some
fresh impetus to
the attack, however Bangor fell victim to another counter attacking move
on 23 minutes.
Harlequins broke quickly from midfield, and a ball crossed from the right
was partly
intercepted by ‘keeper Ryan Cherry. The rebound found a ‘Quins stick who
despatched the
ball into the bottom corner of the Bangor goal. The remainder of the half
saw further
attacking moves for both sides but the score remained 1-0 to the visitors
at half time.
The second half was an exciting affair, with play moving from end to end.
Bangor tried
desperately to get back into the match but repeated attacking moves again
proved
unsuccessful. This was due to either decisive interventions by the
opposing defence or
inaccuracy in front of goal. But Bangor’s hunger to level the scores was
to be their
undoing. Harlequins scored twice in quick succession on 50 and 54 minutes
to give the
visitors a 3-0 lead, but Bangor persevered and were rewarded on 60 minutes
with a superb
effort by Rory McMillan. Rory picked up a loose ball outside the 25,
dribbled into the
penalty area, beat an opposition defender at the top of the circle and
drilled the ball
into the bottom corner of the goal. This gave a glimmer of hope to the
home team who again
pushed forward in search of goals to try and get something from the game.
But it wasn’t to
be Bangor’s day as again they were caught on the break. A long ball found
an unmarked
‘Quins player on the right, who in turn drew in the scant Bangor defence.
An accurate pass
found his colleague who drilled the ball past a helpless Cherry to put the
result without
doubt with four minutes to go.
Bangor were extremely disappointed to have come away with nothing from
this game,
particularly after a strong first half performance. Unlike their
opponents, Bangor were
unable to convert many of their attacking moves into goals and will need
to find their
form quickly if they are to achieve a respectable league position this
season.
Many thanks to Graeme Patterson for umpiring, and those who braved the
elements to support
the team. |