Seconds move six points clear after comfortable win

With Ryan O’Neill being unavailable Justin Glass made his debut in goals and Banbridge also welcomed back leading goal scorer Ross McCandless.

Bann started strongly with their midfield gaining control from the outset, with Josh Moffet and Diarmid Reay threatening going forward.

The midfield was linking up well with the forwards and Bell was unlucky not to open the scoring form close range. A further attack lead to Bann’s first short corner and Ross McCandless made no mistake firing the ball in low to give Bann a deserved lead.

Garvey did threaten on the counter and Glass saved well on a couple of occasions. Bann doubled their lead when a long ball from Burns found McAnulty who after beating a couple of defenders squared the ball across to the diving Bell who deflected the ball in.

Reay was tormenting the Garvey defence and after cutting in from the right side of the pitch fired the ball into the bottom corner for Bann’s third.

Reay continued to cause Garvey problems and after eliminating a couple of defenders crashed the ball into the goal from an acute angle.

Garvey came out fighting in the second half with nothing to lose and pressed the Bann defence. Bann struggled to get into the rhythm they found in the first half and failed to gain the same level of control.

Garvey were growing in confidence but Bann managed to compel all of their attacks and defend a couple of short corners. Bann eventually worked their way back into the game but couldn’t add to their lead.

With Garvey seconds beating Annadale seconds 3-1 Bann find themselves six points clear going into 2013. With the league stopping for Christmas for a couple of weekends Bann’s next game is on Saturday January 5 at home to Civil Service.