Narrow defeat for Ladies

After a superb start to the campaign Rangers Ladies suffered two defeats on the road to Drumaness and again last Tuesday evening after making the daunting trip to Castlederg to face Killen Rangers who were 5-0 up at half time but a better second half performance saw Rangers Lauren Thompson grab a consolation goal from the penalty spot.

It was the enigmatic Thompson who opened the scoring against Dromara Village on Thursday netting her seventh goal of the season so far with a tenacious run through the middle of the park before unleashing a low drive from the edge of the box beyond the reaches of the Dromara keeper.

Dromara Ladies equalised within minutes of the restart catching the Rangers Ladies off guard with a ball over the top which was finished off well past keeper Vicky Baird.

On 20 minutes Banbridge Rangers striker Donna Donnell restored the Banbridge lead finishing off well after some good work down the right hand side by Christine Robinson.

It was then déjà vu with Dromara equalizing within minutes off the restart with a ball over the top beating the Rangers back line with only a puddle in the goalmouth initially denying the goal but Dromara reacted quickest to poke the stationary ball over the line.

This gave the visitors the confidence to attack and they made their dominance pay by scoring twice in quick succession before the half time interval to leave it at 4-2 to Dromara Village. In the second half Dromara had to defend in numbers as Banbridge Rangers created wave after wave of attack but were limited to shots from the edge of the box which were dealt with comfortably by the Dromara keeper.

On 70 minutes Donnell and Thompson went close in quick succession from close range but were thwarted by some good blocks by the Village girls. Midfielder Claire Beckett did manage to find a breakthrough with fifteen minutes to go blasting through a host off bodies to set up a nail biting finish.