No joy for Town Juniors in derby

Banbridge Rangers U13s 3

Town Juniors Under-13s were beaten by derby rivals Rangers in a hotly contested game at Crystal Park last Saturday morning.

The Juniors went into the game looking for a win after a draw from the previous week and began the game well putting Rangers under decent pressure in the early stages.

There wasn’t much between the teams in the first ten minutes but Rangers went ahead on 12 minutes when they scored a penalty after their striker was upended in the box.

This goal gave Rangers a lift as they upped the tempo but they were reduced to shots from outside the box as Town’s solid defensive pairing of Aaron Devlin and Enda Haddow kept the door shut and they were aided by fullbacks Henry Doogan and Owen Vennard.

At the other end Josh Traynor was doing well with Cameron Frizzel up front and Ruairi Andrews was causing the Rangers defence problems throughout the half down the right.

Town had a couple of decent efforts to equalise firstly from Shea Winters who hit a free kick from the edge of the area but the Rangers ‘keeper saved well and the same player had another effort saved from a volley outside the box.

As the half drew to a close the Juniors got their deserved goal when Ruairi Andrews found himself on a one-on-one with the ‘keeper and he bravely flicked the ball to his right and slid it into an empty net to make it 1-1 all the the break.

The Juniors couldn’t capitalise on this goal in the second half as their midfield pairing of Cameron Sands and Shea Winters were unable to gain any control in the centre of the park as Town’s ‘keeper Jonathan Cartmill would become their main player in the second period.

He held and saved any shots that came at him but he was unable to do anything about the two goals Rangers scored midway through the half to go 3-1 up.

Town had one last chance to add to their tally when Shea Winters tried to slip a ball past the oncoming ‘keeper but that was the last meaningful action of the game.

The best team won on the day so the Juniors must regroup and prepare for the next match against Tandragee next Saturday.

Man of the match was ‘keeper Jonathan Cartmill who kept the score down but special mention goes to Ruairi Andrews, Henry Doogan and Aaron Devlin who all turned in decent performances.