Comrades lose out to high-flying Seasiders
Comrades lost out by the odd goal in five in an entertaining, topsy-turvy match at Dixon Park.
The hosts recurring problem of conceding early goals continued as they fell behind inside seven minutes. Bangor attacked up the left exposing the Comrades defence, and the ball was played into the box by Stephen McGuinness, finding Ferguson who had the relatively easy task of finishing from close range. A minute later, Stephen Small’s side produced a good move which ended with Darius Roohi getting in a shot from inside the box, but his effort was deflected wide by a defender’s block. On 11 minutes home ‘keeper Gerard Walker was called into action as he had to push a well-struck Stephen McGuinness effort from 25 yards wide of the post.
The hosts had reacted well to going behind. On 16 minutes they got their reward with an equaliser. Sharp play saw the ball won near halfway and played through to the run of Michael Morgan who got behind the Bangor defence. He entered the box and squared unselfishly to Darius Roohi who make no mistake with a finish from eight yards. The home side continued to impress going forward. In the 29th minute they created a good opportunity to take the lead when Marcus Murphy teed up Michael Morgan in the middle of the box, but he saw his resulting effort kept out by a fine block from ‘keeper Taylor. Five minutes later, another great chance wasn’t taken by Comrades. Cillin Gilmor did brilliantly to win the ball deep in opposition territory. He then curled a great ball into the box onto the head of Darius Roohi, but the striker sent his effort wide from six yards. The visitors still posed a significant threat going forward. On 37 minutes a quick counterattack ended with Ferguson getting his head to a cross played into the area and seeing his effort clip the top of the crossbar.
Comrades then hit the front in the 40th minute. The ball was played forward to Marcus Murphy who was clearly in an offside position, but he didn’t move towards the ball and therefore the referee’s assistant rightly kept his flag down. As the Bangor defence switched off Brian Healy ran onto the ball and darted into the left side of the box from where he got in a shot from a tight angle which Taylor had to spread himself to stop. However, the ball broke out to the edge of the area where it fell to Darius Roohi who hit it back first-time, finding the back of the net with a great finish.
This secured a half-time lead for the hosts, but from the restart Bangor pressed strongly for an equaliser. Having brought on the towering physical presence of striker Arthurs they now loaded crosses into the Comrades box. From one such cross in the 53rd minute Arthurs was unmarked and a goal looked inevitable, but surprisingly he sent his headed effort wide of the target. The visitors looked the more threatening side for most of the second half, with Comrades struggling to regain the attacking fluidity the had before the break. However, the hosts almost grabbed a goal from out of the blue on 59 minutes. Caolan Donnelly surged into the box were a defender tried to clear, with the ball rebounding back off the Comrades man and flying towards goal where Taylor had to make a good sprawling reaction save to keep it out. A minute passed and at the other end Bangor had a chance when Ferguson knocked the ball down to Arthurs inside the box, but his effort was poked wide of the post.
On 67 minutes the visitors got a merited leveller. A dangerous corner was only cleared out to the edge of the box from where Neale rifled a tremendous shot through a crowd of players and into the net. Bangor should have then taken the lead in the 70th minute. The hosts gave the ball away cheaply in their own deep in their own half. Their opponents took advantage with Ferguson being played in one on one with the ‘keeper. However, to the relief of the home supporters the normally lethal striker slid his effort wide of the post.
A slick move from the visitors saw them regain the lead in the 76th minute. Attacking up their right Harrison put a perfect ball into the area where Arthurs got his outstretched boot to it to send it past Gerard Walker.
This finished the scoring as Bangor comfortably held onto their lead and secured all three points.
Many thanks to the match sponsor for this game Abbey Real Estate and to ball sponsor The Mortgage Shop.
