Garvey’s title defence ends with opening defeat

A fine autumn day at Comber Road saw Garvey get off to a very nervy start; as early as the 3rd minute, James Lorimer was caught dribbling out of his circle and when he was dispossessed, Stephen Dowds opened the scoring with a sharp shot past Garvey keeper John Tormey.

This score lasted just a minute when Garvey’s first real attack led to the equaliser. A swift break down the left flank saw Andy Williamson’s shot deflected into the Banbridge net by Andy Forrest.

However, Garvey had not learned the lesson of the first Banbridge goal and again it was Lorimer who was at fault and again Banbridge took full advantage of the error and Neil Gilmore scored with some ease restoring the visitors lead after 8 minutes.

At this stage, Banbridge were much quicker to the ball and had Garvey on the back foot for much of the first 35 minutes. Their first penalty corner came in the 11th minute but Andy Williamson was so fast off the line that he blocked the Stephen Dowds shot.

Another slack piece of defence let Banbridge in for their third goal in the 16th minute. A very fast break down the Garvey left saw the man of the match, Stephen Dowds drift across the circle before beating John Tormey with a good reverse stick shot.

Even with Garvey struggling to repel the Banbridge wave of attacks they did manage a superb goal by Steven Arbuthnot.

The left back carried the ball up the left before beating the Bann keeper Gareth Lennox with a blistering reverse shot from 8 yards.

The goal came in the 23rd minute leaving Banbridge still ahead by 3 goals to 2 and apart from a chance created by Timmy Cockram in the 32nd minute, the half ended with no further scoring.

Timmy Cockram, not for the first time, brought Garvey back to parity with a well taken goal in the 45th minute while Sean Murray set up Daniel Buser with a great chance to take the lead but Lennox was there with a great save to keep his team narrowly ahead.

The home side were now performing with much more conviction and were the better of the two sides in the second 35 minutes but they were shocked again in the 60th minute when the umpire adjudged Garvey to have obstructed a Banbridge player close to goal and when he awarded a penalty stroke it was Stephen Dowds who slotted the flick which took his team into a 4-3 lead and eventually enough to claim the precious league points.

John Tormey brought off two superb saves and a smothering block as Garvey left gaps in the defence as they pushed forward for the equaliser while Jason Lynch chose to shoot from a narrow angle when Andy Forrest was well placed in the 62nd minute.

With time running out, Garvey were throwing everything at their opponents; Timmy Cockram had a run and reverse shot saved by Lennox while Garvey’s only penalty corner of the match in the 65th minute was also blocked by the Banbridge goalkeeper and that effort proved to be the last chance created by a Garvey team which started slowly but were more than a match for Banbridge the longer the game went on.

With a number of the Garvey squad not totally match fit for many reasons, coach Errol Lutton will be expecting more from his team when they travel to Cookstown next Saturday. After their shock on Saturday, a win at Coolnafranky is vital.