Hard fought draw for Town U14s

The U14s have been on an impressive run of form of late and knew this game would be a good test of their progress.

A rather sluggish start by the locals gave Lurgan the initiative and they enjoyed the lions share of possession and territorial advantage for the first 25 minutes of the half.

An excellent save from keeper home Billy Campbell, pushing a shot onto the post and then reacting quickly to beat an incoming striker to the rebound, was needed to keep the scoreline goal-less at half time.

While Banbridge did create a number of half chances in the first half it was only in the second half did they really take the game to Lurgan and eventually got a deserved goal when Jamie McAtameney maintained his impressive scoring record by cleverly diverting Gavin Fearon’s free kick into the back of the Lurgan net.

Banbridge were now playing their best football of the game but to their credit Lurgan defended well and then caught the locals on a counter attack to equalise with a deflected shot despite the best efforts of the home keeper.

The game was now ebbing and flowing with both sets of players giving their all. Banbridge players Mark Weir and Gavin McParland defended superbly.

With seconds remaining the home side nearly secured the victory when Ryan Angus and Mark Burke combined well to send Gavin Fearon racing clear but this thunderous shot rebounded off the underside of the bar and out to leave the game deadlocked at 1-1.

The scoreline was a fair reflection of the game and the Banbridge team can be well pleased with their performance.