A wet start to the second half of the season for the Development Squad saw them face Bangor Rangers in what turned out to be an entertaining game in slippery conditions.

During the first 15 minute period of the game the lads were pressed back a few times by Bangor but kept counter attacking and didn’t allow Bangor to settle on the ball.

Bangor took the lead thanks to a slippery ball spilling out of Robson Rutherford’s hands and into the net after he had made a good save. Hard luck Robson. Robbo made a few good saves throughout the match and has to be commended for his performance as he was playing in a position that he doesn’t normally play.

Towards the end of the period Matthew Lusty got the first of his two goals after going one on one with the keeper and finding the top corner.

The period ended 1 -1.

During the second period Bangor increased the pressure and the Rec started to find it hard going. Despite some good moments we kept finding it difficult to pass the ball to our players. A lot of passes fell short allowing Bangor to intercept the ball and launch another attack.

This enabled Bangor to knock in a couple of goals and go in to the last period with a comfortable lead.

From the start of the third period we started to play football and forced Bangor back into their own half time and again. Matthew Lusty won a free kick just outside the Bangor penalty area and blasted the ball brilliantly past the wall and beyond the keeper.

Now we had our heads up.

Chance after chance fell to the strikers and on another day Sam Murray would have got on the score sheet but unfortunately dragged his shot past the post and Mattie Lusty might have bagged another 3 or 4. Jamie Phillips also got himself up front despite being 2 years younger than most of the players on the pitch and he’ll get a goal sooner or later. Luke Johnston fired in a fierce shot which was on target but was handled by a defender in the box and deflected past the post. Unfortunately the Ref didn’t see it that way and awarded a corner instead of a penalty.

Other good performances came from Tyler Johnston, who started as left midfield and ended up in left back but gave 100%, Calum Mackay played his usual very consistent game and I have yet to see him play a bad one.

Jonny Jackson never stopped working and at one point when he lost the ball deep in the Bangor half chased back the full length of the pitch and made a great tackle to take the ball right of the toe of the Bangor attacker just as he was about to shoot. Brilliant play.

Matthew Booth playing in midfield is also 2 years younger than most of the players. He managed to involve himself in anything coming his way and linked up well with the rest of the team. A good, steady performance.

Rhys Johnston gave as much as he could whilst playing in a variety of positions today. I think the only position he didn’t play was goalkeeper. Early on in the game Rhys hit a good shot but the Bangor keeper pulled off a good save.

Despite the pressure Bangor held on to the 5 – 2 lead although they knew they had been given a game. The difference between the two teams came down to a few basic errors which cost us a couple of goals and we didn’t take our chances. The good news though is we created those chances in the first place.

Overall the lads gave good individual performances but we now need to concentrate on working as a team and that starts by listening on Wednesday Training nights. If we can do that there will be fewer mistakes and we’ll start getting the results.