Greenisland deny Town all three points in season opener

Banbridge Town Under 17s secured a 3-3 draw with Greenisland in their opening game of the season at Fullerton on Saturday morning.
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Greenisland dominated the opening exchanges and went close on a number of occasions but the Town soon found their rhythm as McKibbon and McCandless began to dominate possession in the midfield areas.

It was 20 minutes on the clock when the Town opened the scoring. Leckey in goal started a fine move up the right-wing involving Devlin and Duffin who slipped Fearon in behind the defence to coolly slot the ball home to put Banbridge one up.

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Soon after Houston almost made it two when he flicked McCandless’ free-kick over the bar from close range.

The locals managed to hold out to half time with Devlin, Morgan, Houston and Downey standing firm in defence.

Greenisland applied some second half pressure and it was a mistake which got them back into the game when an in-swinging cross somehow evaded Leckey and found the net.

Five minutes later the Town found themselves 2-1 down when Greenisland again found the bottom corner from outside the box.

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The Town now had to dig deep as they did many times last season and Taylor went close, before Downey equalised at the back post volleying home superbly from a corner.

With only ten minutes left on the clock, Banbridge pushed for the winner and after a fine move down the right, Duffins’ shot was handled on the line resulting in a spot-kick and McCandless confidently stepped up and smashed the penalty home.

In a dramatic finish, Greenisland were awarded a free-kick wide on the left and from the inswinging ball, the forward managed to get a glancing header in to beat Leckey.

This was a spirited performance from the Town and on another day could have taken all three points.

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