Premier League : Mossley 3 v 1 Bangor

BANGOR HOPES OF ALL IRELAND LEAGUE DISAPPEAR

Bangor's hopes of qualifying for the All-Ireland League for the first time disappeared on crisp Mossley afternoon at the weekend.

The youthful Mossley side beat Bangor's more experienced team 3-1, assuring their Premier League status for another year and dooming the Seasiders to another season of mid table obscurity.

With just two league games to go Bangor really can now focus on the two cup competitions they remain in. They now appear destined to finish in their traditional sixth position in the league, no matter how many points they can squeeze out of their last two games.

Their mood will certainly lift if they can get past Dublin side Three Rock Rovers in the Irish Senior Cup this Saturday. But that won't be easy.

Back to Saturday, and Mossley deserved their win with Bangor only periodically producing the hockey they have played all season. They may have felt the odd umpiring decision didn't go their way but it was, once again, their failure to compete on a water based pitch that cost them any hope of the three points. With so many teams now having such pitches it is clearly something Bangor must address.

Mossley's early dominance of possession was rewarded when they opened the scoring after 13 minutes. Simon Todd escaped two tackles on the right wing and crossed for Colin McLean to tap in at the back post.

And 10 minutes later it got even worse for Bangor when Ryan McRea slipped a challenge in midfield and played a delightful through ball for Stuart McIvor to deflect over the advancing John Tormey.

Going in at half-time 2-0 down Bangor knew they had their work cut out. And, to their credit, they came out much the stronger at the start of the second period. Pity it only lasted 10 minutes.

But they did get one goal back. Gareth Morton and Simon Hunter combined to win a penalty corner and after Adam Reading's initial shot was saved Jamie McAuley's persistence was rewarded with a goal. The arrears reduced to one goal and Bangor looked to be coming back into the game. However, they couldn't create enough chances as the Mossley defence held firm. It is hard to believe that they had led the same team 4-0 after half an hour before Christmas.

Reading did go close twice more from penalty corners, with efforts well saved on the line and by the goalkeeper but he was about the only one. A lack of cohesion between the forwards and midfield meant too few chances were carved out against a team they should have managed to score more than one goal against.

And with the game clearly drifting away from Bangor, Mossley grabbed a third goal in the closing minutes, Todd tucking home a penalty corner rebound. It probably flattered them to win by two clear goals but there was no doubting Mossley deserved to take the points.

Bangor can only lick their wounds and hope that the team shows the required character to bounce back against Three Rock Rovers this Saturday. They will be relieved it's on their own sand based pitch.