Having suffered a heavy defeat by Portadown in the opening round of the Junior Cup at the start of the season, Bangor were hoping to put that result behind them and build on their recent run of better form. Sporting their new playing kit – a retro design which paid homage to Bangor’s glory days many years ago – Bangor fielded a largely familiar team, with the welcome return of Conor Lusty at centre after recovering from surgery. Portadown’s danger men who had caused so much damage earlier were again in their starting line-up and were hoping to produce a result that would improve their current mid-table league position.

Bangor kicked-off with the wind in their faces and very quickly got into their stride. Within the first few exchanges, Bangor were awarded a penalty which they kicked to touch, close to Portadown’s five metre line. The lineout was taken cleanly and the subsequent forward drive trundled towards the Portadown goal line. Portadown’s defence managed to resist the Bangor push, but when the ball came back and was passed quickly to Connor Scollan on the left wing, his pace and determination saw him cross the line for the game’s opening score. The difficult wind conditions thwarted Rhys Larmour’s conversion attempt, but this promising start by Bangor saw them 5-0 ahead after just 4 minutes of play.

In very similar style, Portadown’s levelling score came shortly afterwards – a lineout and drive drew in the Bangor defence before passing the ball to their winger for a try in the corner. As if this wasn’t disappointing enough, some half-hearted tackling by Bangor as Portadown ran the ball back from the restart resulted in a clean break which cut through the stretched Bangor defence and allowed Portadown to touch down for a try under the posts. With the simple conversion successfully added, the visitors were now in front by 5-12, with 10 minutes played.

Despite this setback, Bangor responded well and came close to levelling the scores again but when they lost possession deep inside the Portadown twenty two, this was quickly turned into a deadly counter-attack which resulted in another converted try for Portadown, and extended their lead to 5-19.

As the first half was drawing to a close, it was vital for Bangor to get back on terms. Once again, Bangor’s lineout provided a good attacking platform which developed into a powerful rolling maul. Just when it looked like Portadown had done enough to halt Bangor’s progress, Rob Gamble peeled off the pack and darted through a rare gap in the Portadown defence to score close to the posts. Larmour added the conversion to take the half time score to 12-19.

The second half got off to a great start for Bangor. From Portadown’s kick-off, Patrick Dobie set off on a superb break which saw him sidestep and power through several tackles. Although his run was eventually stopped, he had brought his side deep into Portadown’s twenty two. With the visitors’ defence now out of shape, and plenty of Bangor players queuing up in support, the ball got to Ollie Cain who crashed over to score in the left hand corner. The touchline conversion was missed, but Bangor were now right back in the mix at 17-19.

However, just as Bangor had clawed their way back to be within striking distance of their opponents, another instance of slack tackling allowed Portadown to seize their opportunity and run through for their bonus point try which, although unconverted, had opened up their lead once again to 17-24.

As the game approached its final quarter, Bangor had a number of chances to get back on terms. A kickable penalty was turned down in favour of an attacking lineout close to the Portadown goal line, but unfortunately this came to nothing. Then, soon afterwards, it looked like Mike Weir had been set free with a clear run to the line, but the final pass was deemed to be forward. Undeterred by these frustrations, Bangor kept up the pressure and were soon rewarded after a slick back line move was resulted in their bonus point try from Scollan who scored under the posts. As Larmour added the conversion, the scores were level at 24 apiece.

Portadown were now spurred back into attack and for the following 5 minutes kept Bangor pinned down inside their own twenty two. Although Bangor defended well, they were unable to match the sustained pressure from Portadown who eventually managed to squeeze over for a try, midway between the Bangor posts and touchline. The conversion looked good, but was blown against the upright before bouncing back in-field.

Portadown looked unconcerned by this miss as they now had regained the lead by 24-29, with just 15 minutes left to play. However, following a series of penalty offences, they lost one of their big forwards to the sin bin after an illegal tackle in the lineout. Bangor now threw everything into attack, hoping to benefit from their manpower advantage. To Portadown’s credit, their quick defence harried the Bangor attacks, but a clever ‘tap pass’ by Gareth Millar as the ball came across the backs found Gamble with just a couple of metres to the Portadown goal line. Despite some big tackles as he dived for the line, Gamble managed to force his way over to tie the sides once again at 29-29. Now the focus was on Larmour as he stepped up for the conversion from the left of the posts. Seemingly oblivious to the pressure, he successfully added the conversion to nudge his side ahead by 31-29 with just 5 minutes left to play.

As the clock counted down, Portadown were awarded a penalty about 30 metres from the Bangor line. They thought about taking the kick, but the swirling wind made the outcome far from certain. Instead they kicked for touch, but were then unable to secure the ball. In the end, it was Bangor who had the final say, winning their scrum and then kicking the ball safely into touch.

The contrast in reactions from both teams could not have been greater. Portadown looked shell-shocked to have lost in such dramatic circumstances, and at such a late stage in the game. However, Bangor deserve praise for their never-say-die attitude and sustained work-rate that earned them the victory, and that was reflected in their winning celebrations. They now face the unappealing prospect of facing Banbridge in the final group fixture of the Junior Cup, with neither side being able to progress to the knockout stages. However, if they can continue to improve their style of play, and avoid picking up any costly injuries along the way, they should be in an even better position when hosting Cooke in the league in 2 weeks’ time.