Bangor go out in Coca Cola Cup

With two fixtures planned this week Bangor Ladies manager Andy Craig was always going to look to balance the club’s personnel in order to try and get the best result for the Clandeboye Road club by Thursday night.

The first game scheduled for Monday (26th) was a Second Round NIWFA Coca Cola Cup game against Downpatrick Ladies, which to be honest is not the priority of this club - the second however, is a league game against second placed Knockbreda Ladies, Thursday (29th) - with the Seasiders currently sitting in third place in the league - this is the one which took priority and team selection reflected this.

The first game on paper anyway, was the toughest looking contest against a very talented Downpatrick side up at Rosconnor Playing Fields in the village of Annacloy.

This side is setting the pace in the higher ranked Intermediate A Division having won all four of their games this season, rattling 24 goals in the process, and having only conceded 1 against.

So Bangor’s chances, even before they took to the field on Monday evening were not optimistic, although the North Down side has shown in the past, that they are capable of competing against any team in the NIWFA.

Add to the fact that the Seasiders were without no fewer than 8 first team regulars, albeit for a variety of different reasons, a true reflection of the task facing Andy Craig’s side becomes even more apparent.

Due to the locality, the difficulty in actually finding the venue which is buried deep in the County Down countryside, the team actually started this one 30 minutes after the scheduled kick off, with only 10 players on the pitch and no substitutes available.

But credit to the side that did start, who despite the early adversity showed some of the character which is required with so many players unavailable - hopefully this will be the first and only occasion this season that the club will falter in this department.

In defence Peggy Matthews worked hard in defence

The fixture itself saw Bangor start quite brightly and the visitors should have went ahead following the award of a penalty after just 4 minutes. Christina McNamara bursting through, was clinically cut down when clear.

The local referee was in no doubt and pointed to the spot, also issuing a yellow card for the offender. McNamara, badly shaken, thankfully was able to continue.

With regular taker Kim Dockery one of the players unavailable for this one Bangor captain Cathy Duncan stepped up, but her drive was well saved and the resulting rebound cleared away.

The game was open enough, Downpatrick credentials clearly evident as they put together some good attacking moves, but credit to Bangor who stuck with them and the game remained scoreless for 25 minutes.

Sadly the visitors couldn’t sustain this level of competition and under late pressure the defence finally buckled in a ten minutes spell before the break and the Seasiders found themselves 3-0 down and effectively out of contention by the interval.

Changes at the start of the second half allowed the team to relax and take advantage of the situation they found themselves. The chance of going through to the next round out of the question the opportunity was taken to move people about - Carolyn Scott switched flanks, McNamara and Duncan dropped into defence while Rea slotted into midfield.

Although Downpatrick continued to come at the Seasiders and were able to add to their tally with some good finishing, some gritty performances by Duncan, Savage, Scott, Mathews and Boyd made it a very difficult night for them.

To be fair the visitors didn’t cave in against a very young, talented and at times very physical side - but the team eventually just ran out of steam and the home side were able to record a scoreline which although they deserved, didn’t really reflect the heavily contested and bruising fixture.

Dee Savage was left isolated up front but remained a threat

Up front Bangor remained a threat throughout the game, McNamara having ago from 20 yards brought a good save and a great move down the right with Savage and Scott combining late on, resulted in a fierce drive across the face of the goal which Armstrong met on the volley but blasted over.

Downpatrick though were always in control of the fixture and to be fair were deserving of their place in the third round - Bangor Ladies would like to wish them continued success in this competition and on this form will certainly have a reasonable chance of progressing further.

However, for the Seasiders, there were plenty of positive aspects in this game, despite being on the wrong end of the scoreline - the attitude of the players was the most pleasing one on the night.

Julie Graham, for the fourth time this season being asked to play in a different position, stepped up and gave a very good account of herself against a very lively attack.

Jenny Boyd in her first outing of the season looked fresh and will have benefited from this run out, while the duracel partnership of McNamara and Duncan were both tenacious and uncompromising all over the park never giving up on anything or pulling out of any 50/50 challenges.
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Cathy Duncan worked tirelessly in this one going defensive late on

THURSDAY NIGHT ON!!

Thursday nights Intermediate B Divisional game against Knockbreda Ladies was, for a while in doubt, as the visitors were trying to get the game rescheduled due to some unforeseen unavailability of their players.

But as of Tuesday morning (27th) the game is still ON, and scheduled for this Thursday (29th) at Saint Columbanus School, 7.30 p.m. kick off.

A decision as to whether Bangor Ladies were prepared to switch the game was taken last night. It was felt, that the club who had prepared for this game, making the necessary arrangements to field teams both on Monday and Thursday, would be advised to get it out of the way – the possibility of moving it to next week was discussed, but it was unlikely the Seasiders would have the players to play on the proposed Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

However, all available players are asked to meet at the venue, at 6.30 p.m. as planned, as even if the fixture is rescheduled or cancelled late on, the club will take the opportunity for some extra training, and also address some of the recent positive events at Bangor Football Club.

The next scheduled league game is at home, the same venue, against Wellington Ladies, who Bangor defeated 3-1 in the opening round of the Coca Cola Cup. This is due to take place on Tuesday (3rd) evening, again with a 7.30 p.m. kick off.
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Bangor Ladies F.C. face Wellington next week

Last Edited on 27-May-2008 11:30 PM