The main course of the season began on Saturday as Bangor stepped into league action but worryingly they looked a little undercooked as they were beaten 3-0 by Banbridge.

Following the comprehensive thrashing at Instonians the previous week it is far from an ideal start to the season and changes will need to be made over the next month to get the team up to the standard expected.

Normally Banbridge hate coming to the Bangor but this year they dominated the game and always looked like the only team who would win.

Bangor are still clearly suffering from a lack of a coach and desperately need someone in charge to steady the ship. There is news of a potential new coach and his appointment could be confirmed before the weekend. He will have his work cut out overcoming a poor start to the season.

Saturday's early exchanges were even enough with Bangor content to frustrate the visitors and try to cause them some damage on the counter attack. That plan, of course, was always going to be compromised should Banbridge take the lead and they dully did from their second penalty corner.

Ross McCandless had seen his first effort well saved by John Tormey but the evergreen Bangor goalkeeper didn't stand a chance against his next attempt which torpedoed into the top left corner of the net.

The home side did briefly rally after going behind but a few attacks petering out on the edge of the Banbridge circle was all they had to show for their efforts. And it didn't get much better in the second half.

With Bangor trying to get back into the game they noticeably relaxed at the back and gave away a soft second goal. A mix up in defence left Dane Ward free and he was able to turn and finish on his reverse side to make it two-nil.

Again, Bangor tried to respond but again, they failed to stretch a disciplined and hard working Banbridge defence. And with men stranded up the pitch in search of a goal Bangor were vulnerable to the counter which Banbridge exploited expertly leaving Colin Dowds to slot the ball home of the visitors' third.

This weekend Bangor return to play Instonians - this time in the league - and they'll be keen that there's no repeat of the 6-1 drubbing a fortnight ago. Getting some sort of return and points on the board must be the team's priority.

 

 

Written by Simon Hunter