SENIOR LEAGUE 2
SOUTH ANTRIM LADIES 1 BANGOR LADIES 1
HANNAH Lawden’s late equaliser ensured Bangor Ladies came away from their clash with league leaders South Antrim with a deserved point. With the game taking place during the half-term break, Bangor had some players missing from their usual line-up and that gave opportunities for the likes of Eloise Golding and Emily Ferris to join the side. Neither of them looked out of place as the match started off at a frantic pace. South Antrim looked the stronger of the two sides early on, which was unsurprising given they had only failed to win once all season. However, Bangor were up to the fight and held strong, with some great work from the backline of Louise McKibben, Emily Ferris, Vanessa Monaghan and Ellie Dines. While in the first quarter both sides enjoyed short corners, neither were able to convert as the affair produced a much closer contest than what the league table would suggest. It was in turn not a short corner, but a long corner that caused a breakthrough with the South Antrim right-back getting in behind the Bangor defence and carrying the ball along the byline before finding a free player at the back post for a tap-in and the lead going into the half.The third quarter was very even and there were more chances starting to form for Bangor. There was great work on the break from Hannah Lawden, Zara McKee, Hannah Grant and Anna Jackson, but again the South defence – the meanest in the division – held firm.As the last quarter began, Bangor had not lost hope and their continued hard work was rewarded with just three minutes to go. Ellie Dines’ reverse pass from the halfway line found Hannah Lawden somewhat unmarked at the top of the circle, who showed unbelievable composure for her age and tucked the ball away into the bottom right hand corner.South Antrim tried with all their might to find a winner but could not cause any further problems for Bangor. Instead, it looked like Bangor of the two sides were on the ascendancy. In all, the draw was a fair result and Bangor can take a lot of positives having come away with two valuable points against sides first and third in the league in the last two weeks.Bangor will have a free week before taking on second placed Saintfield.
