PLAYR-FIT CHAMPIONSHIP
BANGOR 0 PORTADOWN 3
THREE second-half goals on Tuesday night ( 2nd) put Portadown in charge of the race for automatic promotion from the Championship.
In front of a bumper crowd at Clandeboye Park, the Ports seized control of proceedings after half-time thanks to a brace from Eamon Fyfe and a strike from defender Dougie Wilson. With striker Adam Neale ruled out with a knee injury, Bangor were dealt a further blow when midfielder Tiarnan Mulvenna suffered an injury in the warm-up which meant he had to withdraw from the starting line-up. Lee Feeney shuffled his pack, with Conor McDermott slotting in beside Lewis Harrison in midfield and Seanna Foster promoted from the bench to play as right wing-back.
It was Bangor who had the first sight of goal when Tom Mathieson called Aaron Hogg into early action. But the experienced ‘keeper comfortably gathered the low drive. At the other end Ross Redman caused problems from a Portadown set piece as Lewis Francis had to get his head to the goal bound effort to clear over the crossbar with 16 minutes played.
The visitors enjoyed the majority of possession but it took until the half-hour mark for James Taylor to be called upon. The Bangor shot stopper did well to block Paul McElroy’s effort from a narrow angle before smothering the danger in the following goalmouth scramble. A minute before half-time, Marty Bradley found himself advancing in the Portadown penalty area but the midfielder blasted over the bar when well positioned.
The second half was only minutes old when Portadown took the lead. Reece Neale’s slip allowed Fyfe to bear down on goal and the forward made no mistake when slotting past the exposed Taylor. The lead should have been doubled moments later but, somehow, Fyfe put his six yard effort wide of the empty net after Ryan Mayse had unselfishly squared the ball across goal for his teammate.
A second goal did arrive on the hour mark when Dougie Wilson lashed a volley into the net after Brandon Diau had headed Redman’s free kick back into the danger area. The Seasiders struggled to cut through the Ports and relied on half chances with Scott McArthur off target from the edge of the box after a Ben Arthurs knock down.
Arthurs was well marshalled by the visiting defence but when he did manage to force a mistake, Bangor’s top scorer was unfortunate to see his close range effort bounce back off the post from an acute angle. While Diau was on hand to head clear a goal bound Arthurs cross off the line with five minutes remaining, and Conor McDermott’s deflected shot clipped the crossbar, it was Portadown who had the final say.
Jamie Browne broke clear on the right and he kept his cool to pick out the run of Fyfe who bundled the ball past Taylor to round off a good night for the visitors.
