With a swirling wind blowing mostly across the pitch, Lisburn got proceedings underway. For the first 15 minutes, neither side seemed able to take control, although it was Lisburn who were enjoying most of the territory and possession. However, it was becoming apparent that the strong Bangor pack was on form again. Having won a scrum on the left hand side just inside the Lisburn twenty two, the ball got moved into the centre. The forwards had moved quickly into support and when it eventually came to Chris Schofield, he was unstoppable over the 7 metres he had to make before scoring under the posts. With Keith Rossan’s conversion, Bangor had got the scoreboard moving by 7-0.

From this point, it looked like a weight had been lifted from Bangor’s shoulders. They started to move the ball with confidence, and gave Lisburn few opportunities to mount any kind of attack. This was made all the more obvious when just 5 minutes later, and with the referee playing advantage from a Lisburn infringement, man of the match Mike Aspley made a break from the half way line, then passed to Jamie Clegg on his right. Clegg’s wing forward partner, Nick Hatton was then on hand to receive the ball and squeeze over in the right hand corner for a try. Although the difficult conversion was missed, this well-worked move brought the score to 12-0.

Lisburn were using their kickers to good effect and having taken the play deep into Bangor’s half they were rewarded with a penalty, but the kick was just wide of the posts. From the resulting drop-out, the Bangor forwards won back possession. Curtis Stewart started off on a great run, fending off tacklers as he took the game back into Lisburn’s half. Some desperate defending resulted in a penalty to Bangor just 7 metres from the Lisburn line. Opting for the scrum, the Bangor pack once more provided a controlled ball to scrum half Ricky Armstrong, who quickly popped the ball to Keith Rossan, who powered over to score just to the left of the posts. His simple conversion added the extras, and Bangor were now 19-0 ahead.

From the restart, Bangor collected the ball and kicked for position close to Lisburn’s twenty two. Lisburn kept the ball in play and kicked a high return into Bangor’s half. The ball was caught cleanly by prop Chris Schofield who started off on a charge down the right hand touchline. Having forced his way past a couple of Lisburn players, in true maverick style he decided to chip the ball over the advancing defence. This obviously confused the visitors, as Schofield followed up the kick with another kick forward which the supporting Darren Lyttle then pounced on as it crossed the Lisburn line. Rossan was successful once more with the conversion, bringing the score to 26-0.

Not content with having secured the bonus point with this fourth try, Bangor once more came straight back from the restart. The much improved handling and well-timed passing was evident again as fowards and backs combined through Clegg, Armstrong and finally Hatton to score under the posts. Rossan once more added the conversion and, with the score now 33-0, the game was all but over as a contest. Bangor almost got another try on the stroke of half time when Stewart produced a powerful run and stretched over for what looked like a try. However, he was judged to have made a double movement and the score was not given. Nonetheless, this was yet another example of Bangor’s dominance in the forwards, and something that that augured well for the second half.

It was, however, probably a tall ask to expect a repeat performance as Bangor had little else to prove and Lisburn were determined to both stop the rot and restore pride through scoring themselves. If Lisburn had decided to come out of the blocks fighting, this was soon snuffed out by another good try by Lyttle, extending the lead to 40-0.

Unfortunately, after 20 minutes of the second half, Jamie Clegg suffered a calf injury and had to leave the game. Although a considerable setback, the Bangor players coped well and, within just 8 minutes of his departure, added their seventh try of the game through Jamie Foulkes on the left wing. The kick from the touchline was wide of the posts, but the score was now 45-0.

Although Lisburn laid siege to the Bangor line for the following 7 or 8 minutes, they were denied a score both by the determined Bangor defence and some unfortunate handling mistakes at key passages of play. As the referee blew for full time, Bangor were able to celebrate another good performance that keeps them in second spot in the league, having played one game less than leaders Ballyclare. Bangor will certainly be looking to maintain this level of performance when they face Larne at home next Saturday.

Bangor team: S Schofield, P Dornan, J Harrison, D Lyttle, P Corbett, N Hatton, J Clegg, C Stewart, R Armstrong (c), K Rossan, J Foulkes, M Aspley, M Leebody, D Charles, P Gray

Bangor scores: C Schofield (1T), N Hatton (2T), D Lyttle (2T), J Foulkes (1T), K Rossan (1T, 5C)