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Bangor left it late at Shaw's Bridge on Saturday but a hard fought 2-1 win
over Instonians has put their Anderson Cup campaign back on track.
Adam Reading was the hero when he fired home a last minute penalty corner
to seal an unlikely victory and move Bangor into the box seat in terms of
qualifying for the cup semi finals.
It was not the prettiest of games but both sides gave their all in pursuit
of the final qualifying place after Cookstown in the group.
Bangor can take great heart from beating one of the most competitive sides
in the Premier League despite never playing to their potential.
For that they have Reading to thank. With one minute left Gareth Morton
won Bangor's first penalty corner and despite the initial routine going
wrong Reading didn't let this distract him and when Simon Hunter won
another set-piece, the centre half calmly took aim and fired the ball into
the bottom right hand corner.
It hadn't started that well for Bangor with Instonians taking an early
lead from their first penalty corner. John Tormey saved the initial shot
but the ball then squirmed free and Chris Kirk tapped Instonians into the
lead.
At that stage they probably deserved to be in front with Bangor misfiring
in midfield and never seriously threatening the homes side's goal. But
Bangor did strike back before the break with a well worked goal the result
of probably the only time they strung more then three passes together in
the opposition half.
Chris Campbell's turn on halfway started the move and then Dowie Holley
and Dave McClune exchanged sharp passes at the top of the circle before
the latter swept the ball high into the goal for the equaliser.
Bangor's task was made more difficult when they lost Jamie McAuley at the
end of the first half when a ball was deflected into his head. He needed
two stitches but shouldn't miss any games.
In the second half both sides forced half-chances without either looking
certain to score. McClune could have won a penalty stroke when he was
roughly tackled in the circle but the umpire bizarrely waved play on.
Much of the play was stuck in midfield where Mark Lappin got through a
mountain of hard work. Instonians' attacks were consistently broken up as
Lappin flew into tackle after tackle like a man possessed.
At the back, the determined Bangor rearguard worked hard to keep
Instonians at bay and keep penalty corner chances for the ruthless Chris
Barnes to a minimum. And, after a few near misses at either end, it was
Reading who stole Barnes limelight with his late set-piece finish.
Bangor have no game this weekend because of the senior inter-provincials.
With two games in the last week some of the players may be glad of the
rest before the league programme starts again with a tricky away game to
Lisnagarvey. |