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Bangor 5th XI travelled to Armagh on Saturday past to
take on a strong Armagh team who were currently flying high in Junior 4.
The match began with intense Armagh pressure and early on it was easy to
see this was going to be a diffucult match for the young Bangor team.
Armagh took the lead shortly after push back working the ball down the
Bangor left before pulling the ball back to the middle of the circle where
it was expertly rifled past the Bangor keeper.
The home side's lead doubled within minutes after another move down the
wing split the Bangor defence apart with ease. The remainder of the half
was a similar story for the visitors who struggled to cope with Armagh's
attacking threat. Two more goals from the home side before half time
seemed to all but wrap up the match. A tough half of hockey for the
visitors.
Following some choice words at half time, Bangor came out the stronger of
the two sides and began forcing a bit more of the play into the Armagh
half. Peter Dorman blasted narrowly wide from a short corner after the
corner had been won following some neat interplay down the left side.
Armagh though were always in relative control and every attacking move
seemed be ominous for the visitors. The home side scored their fifth goal
and could have had a sixth but for some excellent last ditch defending
from Chris Agnew.
To their credit, Bangor heads did not drop and continued to work hard to
get something from the game. In a move instigated from Neil Martin in
defence, Bangor attacked down the right wing. Martin released Peter Dorman
who fired a pinpoint pass across the Armagh circle to the stick of Ryan
Tait. The Bangor forward made no mistake as he lashed the ball past the
sprawling Armagh keeper
From this point, Bangor began to get a bit of momentum in their play. A
swift counter attack involving Chris Couglin and Nathan Mount on the left
wing, found Adam Watson all alone in front of the Armagh keeper. In
keeping with his run of form, the young Bangor forward slotted the ball to
the right of the keeper for Bangor’s second.
By this stage Bangor were in the ascendancy and began to press Armagh back
for the first time in the match. When their third goal arrived, it was in
keeping with the run of play. A quick exchange of passes from Tom Calvert
and Nathan Mount on the left wing ended up with the ball going to Tait at
the top of the Armagh circle who made no mistake, rifling the ball low to
the keepers right again.
Bangor had a goal disallowed in the dying minutes and Armagh held on the
for win, but the team will have taken a lot from their second half
performance.
Next up is the Junior Cup match against Lisnagarvey at Hillsborough and
the team will be looking to defeat the team that knocked out the Bangor
4th XI from this competition.
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