Five goal Seasiders back in league action

Bangor Ladies score five, but were still denied

Bangor Ladies, the ladies section at Bangor Football Club, were back in action last week, when the 2009 third division league champions rattled in 5 goals against the team who look certain to be crowned the 2010 division two champions, Derry City Ladies at Bloomfield Road, last Tuesday (29th) evening.



The measure of the task ahead did not look promising for the Seasiders – Derry City had so far swept all opponents aside with relevant ease – were scoring at will, and had only conceded four times in their whole divisional campaign so far.


When the two sides confronted each other in the opening game of the season in mid April, it was the ‘Candy Stripes’ who dominated, emerging comfortable 4-0 victors in a game, in which the Seasiders looked out of their depth, having stepped up a division following promotion in 2009.


However, some gritty performances to date had propelled the club up into a respectable third spot in the table, though still floundering 8 points behind the runaway leaders from the Maiden city, it was safe to assume it was going to be a tough night for the Sammy Mellon and Sons sponsored club.


Additional evidence of Bangor’s gloomy outlook was the withdrawal of right back Paula Dougherty who joins first team regulars Dee Savage, Christina McNamara, Carolyn Scott, Cathy Duncan and Bangor’s No. 1 Bridget Finegan on the injury list. Also out were recent recruits Angie Young and Ruth Evans, along with Suzanne Rea and Tina Sharpe who were also unavailable.


So, once again Bangor manager Andy Craig had been stripped of most of the squad and would welcome the unbeaten league leaders to Bloomfield Road for the first of the division two 7-match run-in with just an 11 strong squad of Jenny Boyd; Val McKibbin, Leanne McGarry, Rachel Bates, Kim Dockery; Trish Webb, Lauren McAteer, Lynsey Turville, Susan Cull; Natasha Lee and Kerrie Woods as the game got underway at 7.30 p.m.


The pre-match message from the management was for the players to concentrate on levels of performance and to disregard the league table statistics. Though Derry are an exceptionally good side, with the Seasiders clearly suffering from the deepening injury crisis, the result at the end of the evening may not accurately reflect Bangor Ladies capabilities this season.


The club will be concentrating on the sides below them in the league table in more important weeks to come and hope to at least give a fairly good account of themselves in this conflict.
Bangor did start reasonably well, Cull on the right instrumental in the early exchanges, her class gave the Seasiders the confidence boost they needed, and almost put Woods in as early as the fourth minute.


The visitors huffed and puffed but seemed to be unable to really open up the home defence and it was only from set pieces that they threatened – a few well-flighted corners were causing some concern.


The opener was a soft one – Boyd deputising in between the sticks actually made a reasonably good save, though fumbled and instead of coming out to stifle the ball, took a few steps back thus allowing a simple tap-in for the opposing striker following up.


Bangor, unimpressed kept the tempo high, the back four solid were mopping up nicely and keeping their highly rated visitors restricted to some long range shooting.

Teenager Lauren McAteer just gets better and better and scored with another great goal on Tuesday

The momentum changed suddenly as striker Lee, who has a quite remarkable scoring record at the North Down club, powered through after fifteen minutes and lashed a rasping drive across the helpless keeper and into the far corner of the net.


Having drawn level; a short time later the Seasiders now surprisingly snatched the lead, again Lee proving too much for the opposition as she struck just 8 minutes later with another fantastic goal – this time from a free kick on the right hand side. The 18 year old making no mistake with an absolute belter, which flew into the top corner – and the lofty league leaders, were behind – for the first time this season.


With Bangor clearly starting to fancy they could somehow get something out of this one, Derry bounced straight back when awarded a bit of a soft penalty. Captain McGarry tangling in the area with a visiting opportunist who tumbled over – the official quickly pointed to the spot – Derry clinically converting to make it 2-2 with ten to go until the break.


Unfortunately another soft goal followed, as the Seasiders had difficulty defending a succession of well drilled in-swinging corners, which were clearly causing panic, although this one just seemed to sneak through at least three defenders and was nodded straight in. 3-2 – half time.


Although trailing at the break – it was only by a single goal and Bangor were certainly still in what was turning out to be a quite remarkable contest, due to the endeavour of the home side and the finishing power of the young striker Lee.


The second half though opened with a twelve minute spell which is best forgotten than analysed, as Derry profited from some untidy defending and the visitors seemed to find another gear and unfortunately the back of the onion bag three more times as Bangor looked like they might finally buckle to a very heavy defeat.


One spark in this gloomy spell was the grit of captain McGarry who typically led by example, playing a super ball trough which striker Lee took in her stride and from wide on the left completed a memorable hat-trick against the usually watertight City defence, which had only conceded four times all season and this did lift the home sides spirits - 6-3.

Natasha Lee scored four times against Derry City in the twelve goal thriller

Again, Derry responded quickly and again took advantage of some naive defending, as a corner drifted straight in at the front post to make it 7-3 with still a daunting 20 minutes left on the clock.


Bangor though weren’t about to capitulate just yet - McAteer and Turville in the middle of the park, kept the team going forward with clever play over the top for the enthusiastic Lee and Woods to chase. And these two kept the Derry back line very busy, and often facing their own goal.


Woods in particular has to be commended, still finding her feet at the club, having only arrived at the Seasiders a the start of June, chased down a seemingly lost cause and through sheer determination won her side a corner.


Natasha Lee who had fired in two viciously paced corners deep in the Seasiders last competitive game, duly obliged with another rocket which soared across the eighteen yard box at a ferocious high velocity.

Bangor games coming up later in July

As she had done so last week to put Bangor into the semi final of the cup, teenager Lauren McAteer showed her obvious class as she connected perfectly to power in a bullet of a header from around 8 yards which almost ripped the net off.


With the score now at 7-4, the quality of the goal seemed to ignite the Bangor team, which had, just a few minutes earlier looked ready to collapse. The momentum now totally switched back to the underdogs, it was, in fact, the visitors who wilted in the late evening sunshine.


The late flurry from the Seasiders for the remaining ten minutes was nothing short of phenomenal: strikers Woods and Lee seemed to find another gear and these two combined to create the final score of the evening.


The Bangor strike force, joined by Webb and Cull worked hard in the last third and snapped at the feet of the last defenders, causing the mistake. Again Lee was quickly free with a slick touch which pushed the ball out of the crowd, she then hit a low rasping drive right into the bottom corner for her fourth strike of the evening to make it 7-5 in what was a quite remarkable final ten.


Although Derry were not in any real danger of losing the contest, the champions elect, strangely looked the beaten side as the referee ended the contest, slumping off the local playing fields heads down – while the Seasiders having shown once again – despite the adversity of the situation and clear numerical disadvantage, the squad have the quality and desire to not only survive in this division, but to actually challenge for it in the not too distant future.


A delighted Craig: “Obviously this is a defeat – but one in which the players were outstanding – we are slowly developing into a top class side with strength in depth.


“To go into this one with what we had and to send them home shell shocked and apparently quite despondent was in a way a triumph for this team.


“Everyone found something extra to dig out the result - Lauren McAteer has been stepping it up week after week and was superb - her goal, one of the best she has every scored for me – was an absolute comet of a finish which ripped in and executed flawlessly.


“Natasha Lee also stands out, the character and courage of the young player, often on the end of some harsh treatment, continues to inspire everyone at Bangor Ladies. All four goals were technically superb and finished with awesome power. She is an outstanding talent, one who is destined for the very top, if she can keep fit and remain focussed on her chosen discipline.


“At the back – this was a difficult challenge for the back four – but fair play – they kept going right to the final whistle and never let the tempo drop.


“As a manager, I am delighted with the players and told them not to under estimate what they achieved in that game – we finished stronger and sent them home bruised and in a strange sort of a way, arguably demoralised.


“We have Moyola away next Thursday (8th) then thankfully a welcome break over the holidays – this will be an opportunity for the squad to regroup, with a couple of key players due to be back in training soon – so the future continues to look good for Bangor Ladies Football Club.”


The club will only be involved in light training this Sunday, before facing Moyola away next Thursday (8th) – after which the team will be encouraged to rest before returning, hopefully to Clandeboye Park for their next scheduled home game against Ballymoney on Tuesday July 20th.

Last Edited on 30-Jun-2010 1:42 PM