Ladies narrowly beaten by league leaders

Portadown also had two close misses early on but the Banbridge defence was solid. They were soon rewarded as Bann went one up. Ash Bell’s clearance found Rachel Cairns who made an important play up the right wing and passed the ball into the top of the ‘D’ to Anna Jess who shot and scored a glorious goal.

Banbridge then took control of the game with their confidence soaring. Unfortunately the team switched off and lacked concentration for five minutes before half-time. Portadown saw this and took advantage with Leanne Cassell levelling the scores.

In the second-half, Portadown came out fighting while the Bann side lacked concentration. The Ports took advantage and scored a goal into the left hand corner of the goal. Banbridge dropped their heads and let Leanne Casell for Portadown take a reverse shot at goal, which led to her second and her side’s third. This shocked Banbridge and they replied by applying a more concerted effort. Anna Jess carried the ball along the left hand side of the pitch to the by-line and passed a 90 ball to Amy Atkinson who fed it back post to Rachel Cairns scoring an impressive goal into the corner of the net.

Throughout the whole game Banbridge had two short corners with one of them brilliantly denied by the Portadown goalie. In the end, that save did much to secure the points after a very tight game.