It was tense, it was trembling, but ultimately Bangor secured their spot in the Intermediate Cup second round draw after a thrilling extra time win over Albert Foundry. It took until the additional 20 minutes for the Seasiders to assume their first lead at Paisley Park, but it was worth it in the end to walk away having narrowly averted a shock upset.
This opposition had already claimed the scalp of fellow third-tier outfit Tobermore United in the Irish Cup first round, and they were mere seconds from seizing another. Were it not for the major contribution deep into stoppage time by one evergreen line-leader, they would have done – and from then, the Yellows turned the tide.
On a cloudy afternoon in west Belfast, the dimensions of Paisley Park certainly make it one of the more intriguing venues in the local game.
A gravel track runs around a grass pitch, meaning that if you are sat in the blue-coloured stand to your left on entry, you physically appear quite some distance from the action.
But you never feel that far. Especially when it has the immersion of what was to play out in the next 110 minutes or so.
Bangor’s line-up featured a handful of alterations from the side that so roundly defeated Armagh City in the Premier Intermediate League the previous Saturday. James Taylor re-entered after a brief injury absence between the sticks in place of Marc Orbinson, Aaron Harris made his third start for the club in midfield after an assist off the bench in the Eagles rout, while Tom Mathieson and Jordan Hughes joined the frontline.
John Boyle dropped to the bench after a season-high run of nine successive starts – meaning Reece Neale was deployed as a left-sided centre back in the back-three – and Karl Devine joined him here after a four-game streak of first-XI inclusions. Adam Neale’s involvement at the UEFA Regions Cup meant the striker was not involved, while Ben Arthurs (Covid) and Ryan Arthur (ankle injury) were also not yet cleared.
Moreover, there was no Lee Feeney in the dugout either. It was John Douglas dishing the orders out from the touchline this time, ably assisted by Michael McClelland and Dean Gordon.
The match was kicked off at 1:30pm as planned by referee Iain Banks, but it took some time to hit any sort of vein.
This perhaps wasn’t helped from a Seasider perspective that two injury-forced substitutions were made in the first 25 minutes. McArthur (16’) hobbled off firstly to be replaced by Dylan O’Kane, before Hughes (22’) took a knock with Michael Halliday taking his spot up top. Goal-mouth action ranked at little to none in frequency at either end.
On 25 minutes exactly, the man in the middle waved ‘play on’ in contentious circumstances after it appeared Mathieson had been upended in the box. The attacking midfielder kept the ball close and dribbled through a crowd, seemingly set to pull the trigger before going down under a sliding challenge where it seemed from a sideline angle that the defender got more man than ball.
11 minutes later, such annoyance became even more palpable. A looping ball was whipped in from the right by Foundry’s Reece Maxwell, with Stephen Wilson connecting with a well-placed header to find the bottom right. The striker found the space behind David Hume in the area and took full advantage, with Taylor diving low to his left but unable to keep his attempt out.
You couldn’t downplay the hosts’ tenacity. Their rearguard was in fine form, hassling out of possession and front-footed in the press.
They made good on their chance when they got it, and put it to Bangor to react. Their alertness to second-balls meant loose touches in the middle-third rarely went unpunished, and by the half it still felt as though the Seasiders had another gear to shift up to.
O’Kane put a few left-footed stingers from distance the way of goalkeeper Jonathon Sloan, but bar this and a handful of corner-kick attempts, chance-creation was in relatively short supply. Banks blew for the stanza’s end with the red-shirted home team one to the good.
Douglas would have demanded a reaction in the dressing room. To start the half, it appeared his requests were being met.
On 47 minutes, a clever sequence of build-up culminated in another drive from range from O’Kane which Sloan was equal to, but on 49 minutes the very best of the shot-stopper was seen as he tipped Mathieson’s close-range effort over the bar. The Bangorian was set goal-bound by Seanna Foster’s right-footed delivery – Halliday occupying defenders at the near-post while he stood free at the back-stick – but Sloan tipped his shot from five yards away for a corner.
Mathieson was denied by the goalkeeper again on 51 minutes, this time receiving from Halliday’s flick-on from which he had made a clever dart behind. Sloan parried to frustrate Bangor once more.
The chances subsided after this early spell of pressure, but the Seasiders were providing fuel for optimism and retaining the ball better.
On 67 minutes, Douglas made use of his bench once more. Mathieson – who worked well with Halliday as a double-act – and Harris came off, and on entered Boyle and Devine. It also cued a few tactical adjustments from the stand-in chief, as ex-Newry City stalwart Boyle’s introduction cued Hume’s move back to his traditional left-sided centre back position in the three, while Neale took his favoured left wingback berth and Jamie Glover went infield.
As those changes were made, chances started to flow again. O’Kane was having possibly his most prolific shot-taking display since joining the club mid-season last term, and two more attempts by the midfielder were stopped by Sloan on 70 minutes – struck with his left foot – and 72 minutes – sent with his right.
“I’ve been practising in training, trying to add goals to my game and it’s good to see it paying off,” the ex-Ards man explained after scoring a brace in Bangor’s 0-8 Steel and Sons Cup outing at Greenisland. He is yet to add to his tally since, but it is not for the want of trying.
Foundry also made a switch, with Dean Spence replacing Reece Croft, while a triple-sub on 76 minutes brought further fresh legs on.
But on 80 minutes, a pair of legs was about to walk off. Banks brandished a red card – not to any of the players, but to one of his linesmen!
In one of the most remarkable scenes you are likely to see all season, the referee halted the game to have a word with Bangor’s own Bradley Ferguson on the far touchline. Despite the Yellows being left frustrated both on the pitch and in the stands, laughs and cheers from both sides were had as the kitman and auxiliary line-runner was shown his marching orders.
He had ran his mouth too much for the man in the middle’s liking and became the first recipient of a red for the club this season. That I did not expect to be penning in one of these reports.
Back to the on-pitch scrambling, then. On 85 minutes, as the clock continued to wind down, a floated cross by Neale went just over Glover’s head and safely into the palms of Sloan. On 88 minutes, it felt as if this impressive shot-stopper had a gravitational pull to the ball as he plucked out Halliday’s cushioned header.
Into added time. Three minutes deep. Bodies piled forward. All or nothing time now. One last push. Or two. Or three.
And then – euphoria. Or exasperation, depending on which side you pledge allegiance to.
As Bangor went direct, floating over-tops into the area from anywhere, one of these yielded the strike that would take the tie to extra time. Foster supplied a deep right-sided cross, a fierce inswinger towards the back-post, weighting it to perfection in what felt like the game’s last meaningful action. Halliday made full avail of it, finally with a shot Sloan could not stop as the east Belfast hero looped a header into the bottom right.
“We started to go a bit longer, more direct, and I was able to connect”
Michael Halliday
Shortly after, the blow for the end of regulation. Often moments like these inspire you into the additional period, and so it proved here.
In the first half of a 20-minute spell, which would be followed by spot-kicks if the score remained unaltered, a scramble in the area almost saw Ryley D’Sena connect at the near-post with Sloan again on hand to beat it away. In the eighth minute of extra time, the comeback was complete.
Glover in full flight is a majestic player to watch. Here, he received on the left channel and seized the initiative, evading a slide tackle from behind with green grass ahead to foray into. When the moment was right, he cut it low to the near-post, with Halliday lying in wait to slide in first-time into the bottom left.
For the first time, the Yellows were in front. Halliday has more goalscoring seasons under his belt (23) than Glover has had birthdays (21), but no matter – whatever the age, true class is permanent. His first two strikes of the season on just his second appearance proved crucial as Bangor patiently knocked the ball about until the extra time’s end.
| Other results (select) | Int Cup 1st Rd (15th Oct) | ||
| Armagh City | 6 | 0 | Grove United |
| Coleraine Reserves | 2 | 1 | Glentoran II |
| Crumlin United | 2 | 3 | Limavady United |
| Dollingstown | 0* | 0 | Ards Rangers |
| Holywood | 3 | 0 | Tobermore United |
| Moyola Park | 6 | 0 | Desertmartin |
| Portaferry Rovers | 0** | 0 | PSNI |
| Queen’s University | 0 | 3 | Coagh United |
| Rathfriland Rangers | 6 | 2 | Cookstown Youth |
| Rosemount Rec | 3 | 2 | Lisburn Distillery |
| Sirocco Works | 1 | 5 | Ballymacash Rangers |
| Valley Rangers | 3 | 1 | Belfast Celtic |
When it looked lost, someone pulled a rabbit out. Just like Adam Neale on his debut at Ballymacash Rangers, a striker stood up to salvage the spoils.
Halliday spoke post-match on how he found the net in such stylish fashion for both goals.
“I think it was a bit of desperation at the end, we started to go a bit longer, more direct, obviously Seanna’s put a great ball in and I was able to connect.
“I got my second from Jamie’s low ball and after that we just knocked it about.
“I know they were down to 10 due to an injury but we kept it well and saw the game out.”
The Seasiders did well to avoid being humbled by lower-league opposition in the cups last season, and while it so nearly looked as though that would be dented, it ends as a welcome ninth win in 12 outings. The focus switches to Glentoran IIs in the Steel and Sons Cup fourth round next Saturday while they await their next opponents in this competition.
Back at Clandeboye Park, there was Junior Cup second round joy for the Reserves, who saw off Carniny Amateur and Youth with a sublime 3-0 victory. The match – which kicked off simultaneously at 1:30pm – was capped by a brace from the prolific Charley Craig and a Ruairi Wright take that sees them enter the hat for the competition’s third phase.
On Sunday, Adam Neale was in the Northern Ireland squad once more as they faced the Zlín Region outfit of the Czech Republic at north Belfast’s Solitude. Newington’s Patrick Downey scored for the home side on familiar turf, before an own goal brought the Czechs parity with the score reading 1-1 at full time.
Harry McConkey’s men secured four points from a possible nine in the group, but the point was good enough for the Czechs to progress while the Ballinamallard United chief’s team’s journey comes to an end.
Neale was named as a substitute in a line-up featuring five changes from the 3-0 win at Larne’s Inver Park over the Swedish Region of Gothenburg select side on Thursday, in which he opened the scoring.
Rounding up the Academy results this weekend, the eye-catcher was an 11-goal thriller involving the Under-14s, who defeated Shankill United 7-4, while the Under-13 NL team impressed with a 5-2 win over Hillsborough Boys. There were 2-2 and 3-3 draws with the Under-17 (against Ards Rangers) and Under-13 SBYL (against Ards) sides respectively, and the Under-11s lost to Belfast Celtic Cubs.
Lastly, the club is very grateful to everyone who has attended the Girls Academy taster sessions in the past four Sundays.
These will now take place on Tuesday nights from 6pm until 7pm at Clandeboye Park. New members will always be welcome, and you can email girlsacademy@bangorfc.com to register your interest or find out more information. The Ladies senior side are also on the lookout for new players and coaches ahead of the new season, and you can privately message the Bangor Ladies Instagram or Facebook pages or email bangorladiesfc@outlook.com if you would like to get involved in an exciting and growing part of the club and be signposted to the relevant authorities.
Featured image from Sarah Harkness.
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