From the kick-off, Bangor looked sharp and were running and passing the ball with confidence, despite missing a number of familiar 1st XV faces. With just 6 minutes gone, a Dungannon infringement led to a penalty which Keith Rossan successfully kicked to start the scoring and give Bangor the lead 3-0.

From the restart, Bangor collected the ball and started to move back towards the Dungannon half. With the Bangor backs enjoying good possession, Chris Morgan came into the line and produced the all important line break before passing to Davy Charles. With just one man to beat, Charles produced a perfectly weighted chip which he gathered before running in under the posts for Bangor’s first try. The simple conversion was kicked by Rossan to extend Bangor’s lead to 10-0.

The Dungannon players looked surprised to be in this position and started to lift their game and attack Bangor’s twenty two. Bangor defended well, but in doing so conceded a penalty which Dungannon converted to narrow the lead to 10-3. However, just a few minutes later, a well positioned kick by Keith Rossan found space in the Dungannon twenty two. The Dungannon defenders failed to collect the ball, which bounced kindly for the quickly chasing Davy Charles who gratefully accepted the easy pickup and run in under the posts for his second try. With Rossan’s conversion, Bangor now led by 17-3.

Bangor’s third try was perhaps their best. With just 5 minutes gone since their last score, the forwards secured the ball and presented it to the waiting back line. From scrum half Craig Harper, the ball was fed to Ryan Law, then Chris Morris and Chris Morgan before the final pass to Davy Charles whose pace and side-step beat the covering Dungannon players, giving him his third try under the posts. Rossan’s kick was successful again, bringing the score to 24-3 with just 25 minutes gone.

There next followed a period of sustained pressure by Dungannon. Wave upon wave of Dungannon attacks was soaked up well by Bangor. However, the Dungannon players were determined to make their pressure count, and with just 2 minutes of the first half remaining, they crashed over for a try which was also converted, reducing Bangor’s lead to 24-10. The first half finished this way, despite a late penalty opportunity for Bangor.

The importance of half time team talks cannot be underestimated, as the second half started with Dungannon firmly in the driving seat. Within the first 10 minutes, they got their second converted try to bring the score to 24-17. The following 14 minutes proved costly for Bangor. Firstly another penalty opportunity was missed, then Daniel McNally was yellow carded, closely followed by Ryan Meeke. With just 13 Bangor players on the pitch, the inevitable happened and Dungannon immediately got their third try which was converted to level the scores at 24-24.

A clearly unsettled Bangor side now struggled to produce the form they showed in the first half, and were fighting to retain possession and build new attacks. This became evident when, after a collection of mistakes and poor kicking decisions, the ball came back to Dungannon who availed of the still depleted Bangor defence to score in the right hand corner. The tricky kick was well taken, giving the visitors the lead for the first time by 24-31.

With the return of McNally and Meeke, Bangor regrouped and started to produce strong attacking moves, deep into the Dungannon twenty two. Chris Morris produced some great runs, and was unlucky on one occasion to be tap-tackled just short of the line, then unable to get back to his feet before being swamped by Dungannon defenders. After a string of penalties by Dungannon within striking distance of their own line, they had one of their players yellow carded. With the final minutes ticking away, another quick Bangor tap penalty came to Mike Aspley. His powerful, twisting run just managed to get him over the line, despite the attentions of four Dungannon players. Chris Morgan calmly added the conversion to level the scores at 31-31. There was no time left for either side to mount a final attack, and the referee called time on what had been an exciting and closely fought game.

This was a good team performance against a strong Dungannon 2nds side that would probably have been the pre-match favourites for the win. For all the bad press that the Conference League gets, this game produced an entertaining match that the large crowd of spectators thoroughly enjoyed. From Bangor’s point of view, the hope is that this type of performance can be replicated for their final game of the season away to Letterkenny next weekend in the Qualifying League.

Bangor team: J Harrison, A Jackson, P Nicol, R Meeke, F Black, M Coey, D McNally, R McCausland, C Harper, R Law, K Rossan, M Aspley, C Morris, D Charles, C Morgan

Bangor scores: D Charles (3T), M Aspley (1T), K Rossan (3C, 1P), C Morgan (1C)