A much-changed Bangor side progressed to the third round of the Crawford Cup last Saturday.
Hugh Sinclair changed his entire starting line-up from the side that had beaten Brantwood less than 48 hours previously in a bid to rotate his squad ahead of a hectic fixture list.
The Seasiders took control early on at the Bangor Fuels Arena with goals from Michael Halliday and debutant Matty Burrows before Killymoon Rangers struck back through Richard Dunaghy. A Gerard McMullan strike after the interval made safe Bangor’s passage into the next round where they will face Cookstown Youth.
In miserable weather conditions it was Bangor who struck with their first meaningful attack of the match. A long diagonal pass from Brett Widdowson picked out Jordan Lucas on the right wing. Lucas, making only his third appearance of the season and his first since November, crossed for Michael Halliday to nod in the opener after 13 minutes.
Three minutes later and Bangor had doubled their lead. Zac Fletcher made room in midfield and slipped Matty Burrows through on goal. The former-Glentoran striker kept his cool to slide the ball past Kyle Dobson to open his account for the Seasiders.
If Bangor supporters had hoped for the floodgates to open, Killymoon Rangers had other ideas. The Cookstown-based side responded well with Eoin Coyle forcing a point-blank save from Paul Cairnduff. That was to be the goalkeeper’s last action of the match as he hobbled off ten minutes later suffering from a dead leg.
He was replaced by Darren Gibbons, and the substitute’s first duty was to pick the ball out of the back of his net. After Jack Mallin headed Dillon Coyle’s corner off the line, Richard Dunaghy looped Coyle’s follow up over Gibbons and high into the net.
Burrows could have restored Bangor’s two goal advantage in the 47th minute but Kyle Dobson extended his arm to block the striker’s lofted effort from 16 yards.
There was nothing though that Dobson could do to keep out Gerard McMullan’s thumping finish in the 62nd minute after the ball ricocheted kindly to the winger when Jack Mallin’s effort was blocked.
Halliday and Burrows combined well to tee up Zac Fletcher but the January signing was denied his first Bangor goal as Dobson did enough to block the low shot.
Bangor enjoyed the majority of possession late on but struggled to find the necessary pass to trouble a well-organised and hard-working Killymoon Rangers side.
Bangor: Cairnduff (’31 Gibbons), Arthur, Widdowson, White, Edgar, Fletcher, Lucas (’72 Williams), Mallin, Halliday, Burrows, McMullan. Subs not used: Roy, McArthur, Arthurs
Scorers: Halliday (13′), Burrows (16′), McMullan (62′)
Booked: Widdowson
Killymoon Rangers: Dobson, Allen, D Coyle, Frizelle, Ferry, N Coyle, E Coyle (Murray), R Dunaghy, S Dunaghy (78′ M Coyle), Smith, McNicholl. Subs not used: Devlin, Montague, Blake
Scorer: R Dunaghy
Booked: E Coyle
