Banbridge continue good run of form against Pembroke

It was a measure of things to come that Owen Magee drew the first save from Ilko Dartsch just 10 seconds in.

Pembroke hit the front soon after when Greg Chambers cleaned up off the pads of Luke Roleston following an initial save from Cian Murphy.

Bann replied with Philip Brown dragging down the middle from their first corner and they went 2-1 ahead from the penalty spot.

Brown’s initially drag was parried high in the air where Jonny McKee batted it goal wards onto the body of Nick Burns; McKee slotted the stroke.

It was 2-2 at half-time, though, as Sothern produced one of his trick moves at corner time, dribbling, lifting then bunting home from close range.

Bann restored their lead in the second half when, after some strong Pembroke blocks, a long corner was played to Magee whose shot from a tight angle snuck in.

Josh Moffett made it 4-2 in the 44th minute when Alexander Tinney made it all the way up to Louis Rowe; he slipped the ball to Moffett who had a simple tap-in.

A direct Alan Sothern drag brought the contest back into focus but Banbridge killed off the game with nine minutes to go as the Co Down side hunted in packs to turn over the ball on halfway.

The ball was fed forward to Rowe who was a handful all game and he dummied the goalkeeper before scoring.

Pembroke had a series of late corners but none hit the sweet spot and so they remain in ninth place while Bann move within two points of second place for the first time since the second day of the season.

Pembroke 3 (A Sothern 2, G Chambers) Banbridge 5 (Ph Brown, J McKee, O Magee, J Moffett, L Rowe)