It's now or never for Town

Banbridge Town captain Ryan Moffatt says his side are just a point from safety ahead of this weekend's season finale.
Ryan Moffatt celebrates scoring last Saturday. INBL1617-253PBRyan Moffatt celebrates scoring last Saturday. INBL1617-253PB
Ryan Moffatt celebrates scoring last Saturday. INBL1617-253PB

Town are off to Sport & Leisure Swifts’ Glen Road Heights this weekend for their last Championship Two match of the season (kick-off 3pm).

They go into the game in a precarious position, only two points ahead of the dreaded bottom five.

Dollingstown and Newington are both two behind Town on 31, Glebe are on 32 while Dundela and Queen’s are also on 33 but both have a worse goal-difference than Town.

Saturday’s opponents, the Swifts played against Portstewart on Tuesday and then Newington on Thursday.

Despite their fixture congestion though, Moffatt knows his side will have to perform well to win.

“It will be a tough game,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever played there, but it’s a wide open pitch that’s very windy.

“We played them earlier in the season and got a bit of a hammering, I think we had someone sent off that day and it just went from there.

“But they’re playing catch up game-wise, with three games this week, so I don’t know what shape they’ll be in on Saturday.

“We know everything is in our own hands. A point should guarantee our safety, but we want to finish on a high.

“Everything is going well at the moment, the season has absolutely flown in. No doubt the summer will fly in too, and we’ll be back to training.

“Everything is good and going well,” Moffatt concluded.

The mood was understandably high after a morale boosting draw with title-chasing PSNI last weekend.

“It was a hard earned point, if you’d offered us that before the match we’d have taken your hand off for it,” said Moffatt.

“In the end, we were a little disappointed, especially going 1-0 up and leading for so long, and then to concede a penalty, but we earned good point overall.”

Moffatt stepped up to take Town’s penalty himself, the captain not shirking his duties, but how was he feeling at the vital moment?

“It wasn’t too bad,” he said. “I feel quite comfortable when I take a penalty. Lucky enough the keeper went the wrong way and I stuck it in the corner.

“There was relief and joy at that moment,” he commented.

“It was one of our best performances of the season, everyone worked really hard off the ball. We know that when we’re on the ball there is no doubt, with our tempo and work rate, teams don’t get near us.”

What they would give for a performance like that this weekend.