With Portadown having suffered a heavy defeat the previous weekend, they fielded a strong side in the hope of picking up a better result and keeping their challenge for a top 4 place on track. For Bangor’s part, injuries picked up at CIYMS forced a number of positional changes. However, with strength in depth across the senior squad, the intention was to hold on to the top spot with another good win.

Playing with a strong wind blowing directly down the pitch, Portadown got the game started and certainly came out of the blocks with all guns blazing. Having forced an early penalty, they kicked for touch close to Bangor’s line and for the next few minutes kept the pressure on. Bangor defended manfully, but Portadown’s intensity paid off after just 5 minutes when they broke through to score under the posts. With the simple conversion, the visitors were first on the scoreboard by 0-7.

It can be no fun playing into a strong headwind, knowing that positional kicking is not an option, and having to run everything. However, this is what Bangor set themselves to do and played themselves into good attacking positions. But for a couple of trips and slips, Bangor could have scored through Jason Morgan and Jason Guthrie. The touchline spectators were justifiably concerned that maybe this wasn’t going to be Bangor’s day when, after 17 minutes, Neil Cuthbertson missed what looked like a straightforward penalty from in front of the posts. However, this had been won through sustained Bangor pressure and this soon led to even more desperate defending by Portadown which earned them a yellow card for killing the ball. During this sin bin period Portadown were understandably employing more spoiling and delaying tactics which, although preventing Bangor from scoring, resulted in another yellow card as their earlier player returned to the pitch. This time, however, Bangor used quick passing across the backs to stretch the opposition and give Ross McCloskey the space to dive over on the left hand side. Cuthbertson made a much better job of this kick, successfully adding the extras to level the scores at 7-7, which remained the case as the first half came to a close.

Now playing with the wind at their backs, Bangor knew that their hard work in the first half should pay dividends in the second. In fact it took just 2 minutes before good work in the loose saw the ball come to Mike Ferguson who broke through the Portadown line. Having made good ground, he looked to his right and saw Jason Guthrie in close support. The pass was made and Guthrie ran through to score under the posts. With Cuthbertson’s kick, Bangor were now ahead by 14-7.

This score marked the start of another Bangor blitz. Just another 2 minutes had passed when a Bangor turnover resulted in a break down the left wing by Mark Widdowson who then passed to David Bradford taking play back towards the centre. Two more passes got the ball to Cuthbertson on the right hand side who went on to score in the corner. The touchline kick was wide of the mark, making the score now 19-7.

With just over 10 minutes gone, another Bangor turnover in the centre provided an attacking platform that saw several players involved before Mike Aspley, now back to form after several weeks on the injury list, finished the move with a strong run to score the bonus point try in the left hand corner. Another good Cuthbertson kick put Bangor well ahead by 26-7.

The onslaught continued with another try just 3 minutes later, when clever passing caught the Portadown defence cold, giving lots of space for the touchdown. In fact, any one of three players was on hand, but eventually it was Widdowson who got the final touch and scored in the left hand corner. With the successful conversion, Bangor were now comfortably ahead by 33-7.

Although Portadown fought back, their attacks were repeatedly halted by determined and effective Bangor tackling. Turnovers were seized upon, resulting in the next score which was a combined front row effort. Having won the ball out of a tackle, Ferguson set off on another break through the centre before passing to Phil Whyte who carried play forward. Having made valuable yards, Whyte then passed to Bradford who made the final run to score under the posts. As he ran back, he drop-kicked the conversion to make the score 40-7. The final score was another front row combination. This time it was Whyte who started things off before off-loading to Ferguson who dived over for a well-deserved try. The straightforward kick was successful bringing the score to 47-7. A couple of minutes later a nod from both captains to the referee brought proceedings to a close.

While Bangor’s second half delivered the majority of the points scored, it was their first half performance that made it all possible. Excellent defence and effective tackling in the face of not only a strong Portadown attack but also the adverse wind conditions showed Bangor’s intent, despite falling behind from an early score. Bangor’s relentless run-in to the end of the league doesn’t get any easier with games against a resurgent Cooke, the always difficult Clogher Valley and the unpredictable Ballyclare. However, next week sees an equally difficult challenge in the form of Omagh in the semi-final of the Powerade Towns Cup. With no additional injury worries, Bangor will be hoping to repeat their earlier successes against the men from Tyrone and set up a second visit to the Kingspan Stadium for the final on Easter Monday.

Bangor team: M Ferguson, D Bradford, P Whyte, D Kelly, D Caughey, M Weir, C Burton, J Clegg (c), J Guthrie, J Morgan, M Widdowson, M Aspley, D Fusco, N Cuthbertson, R McCloskey

Subs: O McIlmurray, J McMullan

Bangor scorers: R McCloskey (1T), J Guthrie (1T), N Cuthbertson (1T, 5C), M Aspley (1T), M Widdowson (1T), D Bradford (1T, 1C), M Ferguson (1T)