Bangor swept aside at the seaside as South bag three goals and three points

South had reason to go into this match with some confidence after good pre-season performances. As it turned out, they struggled to get to grips with the game and never managed to produce the kind of performance they would have been hoping for.

They were forced to make a number of changes in the midfield prior to the match due to unavailability and this seemed to affect the style of play. This was compounded when Jack Redpath was forced to retire from the game with a hamstring problem after only 20 minutes.

This gave Jack Moore the opportunity to make his competitive debut having joined this season from the junior ranks at Lisnagarvey.

Despite sterling work from Tim Crean and Andy Gardner in midfield, South failed to establish any fluidity or really control the game at any stage and the elusive goal seemed as far away as ever. Just before half time, South eventually made the breakthrough when Darren Hutchinson scored with a well a struck penalty corner variation.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with South players struggling to look comfortable on the unfamiliar surface. During this phase of the game, Chris Moulden in the South goal produced a top quality save to deny Bangor’s Gareth Stranaghan an equalising goal.

John Semple was proving to be the main threat for South and it was his piece of individual skill that brought the second goal. Picking up a loose ball in the Bangor half, he calmly went past the goalkeeper and reversed the ball into the open goal. This was just what the visitors needed to effectively end the Bangor resistance. In the dying moments, more good work from Semple delivered a ball to Neil Wilson who finished clinically to put a bit of gloss on the performance.

South will need to be better than this as the league progresses, but they will be happy with the three points in the bag.