It was a wet Friday night at Ballyk when Bangor 2s hosted a newly promoted Annadale 3s team who were looking to make their mark on this new league. It was Annadale who started to stronger, having the majority of the early possession whilst Bangor looked to be unorganised and off the pace. This possession soon turned into the opening goal of the game for Annadale who managed to bundle in a rebound that should have been cleared. But this was the catalyst that Bangor needed and they soon started to take control of the game with both Jeremy Macafee and Gareth Stranaghan causing the Annadale defence problems on several occasions but both were just unable to convert to goals. It was from a short corner that Bangor eventually stamped their authority on the game, the Bangor bobble meant the corner broke down at the top of the circle but some swift interplay between Macafee and Edwards gave Jonny McNaught the time and space he needed to rifle the ball into the bottom left hand corner. From here on it was Bangor who were running the show and they soon grabbed a second to take the lead when Edwards fired the ball into the circle from the left and Stranaghan was on hand as ever to tuck the ball into the back on the net for his 10^th goal of the season. Bangor went into the break with this 2-1 lead. 
 

The second half started in much the same way that the first ended, with Bangor pushing for the elusive third goal to put the game beyond the reach of Annadale. But it was against the run of play that the fourth goal of the game came, with Bangor pushing further and further up the pitch a swift well worked break away from Annadale made it 2-2, bringing them back into the game. It was now vital that Bangor be the next name on the score sheet and it wasn’t long before they thought they had it, a quickly taken free hit from just outside the circle allowed Macafee to tuck a well placed shot into the back of the net, only for it to be deemed that the ball had not moved 5metres. The score remained 2-2. This disallowed goal really got Bangor motivated and it was only 30 seconds before they were back down at the Annadale goal where Stranaghan tapped in for his second of the game, there was no way this could be disallowed. From then on it was all Bangor and they could’ve had a couple more before Stranaghan secured his hat trick goal and the three points for Bangor. 
 

The match ended 4-2 to Bangor, with Dave Edwards being Man of the Match with a superb display at centre midfield. 
 

Thanks go to Davey Shields for umpiring.

 

Written by Dave Edwards.