Hard lesson for Academicals
CLICK HERE for the action shots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In perfect playing conditions, Bangor resumed their league campaign with a home fixture against Omagh Academicals. After a slow start, Bangor eventually ran in eight tries to win convincingly by 50-8.
Bangor got proceedings underway, playing with a slight wind advantage. Such is the incisive nature of Bangor’s attack, scoring opportunities can come about from the slightest of chances. This was the case when, after just 4 minutes, Nick Hatton darted through a gap in the Omagh line before off-loading to Jason Morgan who had a relatively easy run in to score to the right of the posts. Although Keith Rossan’s conversion attempt went wide, Bangor were off the mark by 5-0.
The Omagh players came straight back from the restart, keeping Bangor within their own half, and forcing them to concede a number of penalties. After a further 5 minutes, Bangor paid the price for repeated infringements when Omagh converted a penalty kick to close the difference to 5-3.
The following 15 minutes saw Omagh enjoy most of the possession, but each attack was repelled by the solid Bangor defence. However, the home side waited patiently until an opportunity, in the form of a penalty, provided a good attacking position just inside Omagh’s twenty two. From the resulting lineout, the forwards took the ball forward in a rolling maul. The well-drilled pack produced a text book drive of 15 metres to eventually push Curtis Stewart over the line for a try. Rossan was successful with the conversion, bringing the score to 12-3.
Before Omagh had time to recover from this set-back, Bangor struck again. From the restart, the ball was safely gathered, then passed to full-back Chris Morgan who made a clever cross field run to hook up with winger Davy Charles. Charles then produced one of his characteristic jinking runs before passing inside to wing forward Nick Hatton who had a short sprint to score under the Omagh posts. Again the conversion was successful, extending Bangor’s lead to 19-3.
Although undoubtedly feeling down after this double score, Omagh were by no means out. Their back line got the ball quickly to their right wing who produced a good run into Bangor’s twenty two. They consolidated their position, keeping the ball with their forwards and made a number of attacks on the Bangor line. After several phases of attacking play, the Omagh players finally found a rare gap in the Bangor defence to score in the right hand corner. Although the difficult conversion attempt was unsuccessful, the gap had closed to 19-8.
This was a timely reminder to Bangor that Omagh were still a force to be reckoned with and, as the visitors would have the wind at their backs for the second half, there was still some work to be done to secure the victory. With just 5 minutes of the first half remaining, Bangor won a penalty inside the Omagh twenty two. Opting to take the scrum, Bangor started to exert sustained pressure on the Omagh pack, forcing more penalties from them as a result. Eventually, the ball was picked up from the base of the scrum by Curtis Stewart. Having made a few hard yards, there following some slick passing between Stewart, Ricky Armstrong, Paddy Dornan and finally Keith Rossan who just squeezed over at the right hand post to produce the bonus point try. With the simple conversion, the score had moved on to a more comfortable 26-8. Although Bangor had another good chance a couple of minutes later, their normal good handling let them down and no further scores were recorded as the referee blew for half time.
The talk along the touchline during the half time interval was that the gathering wind could be worth at least 10 points to the side enjoying its advantage in the second half. However, it was Bangor’s ability to run with the ball in hand that would undo any hopes that the visitors may have had. After a cagey first 15 minutes of the second half, where the only scoring opportunity was from a missed penalty by Omagh, Bangor once again showed that even though they may be deep in their own half, they can produce attacking runs out of nowhere. Starting with a strong run by Mike Aspley who managed to shake off a number of Omagh tackles, the ball was moved to Rossan, then Stewart who finally passed to Jason Morgan who managed to crash over in the left corner despite the close attentions of an Omagh defender. The difficult kick was missed, but the score was now 31-8.
Bangor once more took their time to absorb more Omagh pressure before striking again, this time from a stolen lineout. From a poor Omagh put-in, Peter Corbett managed to palm down the ball to Armstrong who started it off across the back line before it reached Davy Charles. From well within his own half, Charles saw a gap and sprinted towards the Omagh line. Although chased all the way, he managed to keep ahead to touch down under the posts, giving Rossan an easy conversion, and bringing the score to 38-8.
With just a few minutes of the game remaining, Bangor’s fitness was evident when another team effort produced a further score. This time the move started on the left wing with Jamie Foulkes making good ground before passing inside to Jason Morgan. As he was tackled, he managed to pop the ball to Rossan who made for the line but was just held short. Corbett was backing up and managed to scoop the ball up to Chris Morgan who made the final move and scored in the left hand corner. The conversion was missed, and the score was now 43-8.
With the game all but over, the final play saw another good forward move releasing Darren Lyttle who still had enough steam left to run 20 metres unhindered to score under the posts. Rossan’s conversion marked the end of the game, and Bangor’s victory was an impressive 50-8. The official Man of the Match award went to Nick Hatton for his hard work around the pitch, as well as getting on the score sheet. However, special note must be made of the unofficial Man of the Match, Danny Curran, for his often unseen work off the pitch as demonstrated today when he drove to Limavady and back to collect Jason Morgan who otherwise would have been delayed there with the Bangor Grammar boys, and therefore would have missed the match.
While confidence was high before the game, the manner in which Bangor built this eight try win was remarkable, given the strength and determination of the opposition. Next week’s away trip to Dungannon 2nds in the next round of the Junior Cup will be a stern test, but one that is eagerly anticipated. All travelling support would be welcomed to help lift the players and encourage them to advance in this competition.
Bangor team: P Dornan, A Jackson, J Harrison, P Corbett, D Lyttle, N Hatton, J Clegg, C Stewart, R Armstrong (c), K Rossan, J Foulkes, M Aspley, J Morgan, D Charles, C Morgan
Bangor scores: J Morgan (2T), C Stewart (1T), N Hatton (1T), K Rossan (1T, 5C), D Charles, (1T), C Morgan (1T), D Lyttle (1T)
Draw for 2nd round of Junior Cup
We will be away to Dungannon 2nds on 13th October for the 2nd round of this year’s Junior Cup. All travelling support welcome.
