It was a frustrating afternoon on Saturday for a Bangor side that lacked that creativity or firepower to find a way past a well-organised Ballymoney United side.
On a wet day at the Bangor Fuels Arena the Seasiders had a first half strike ruled out controversially for offside, but beyond that they failed to trouble the opposing goalkeeper and slipped up for the first time this season.
Missing September’s player of the month – Mark Cooling – and Jack Wasson through unavailability, Hugh Sinclair shuffled his pack with Darren Gibbons, Gerard McMullan, Ben Arthurs, Sammy Devine and Adam Calvert all returning to the starting line-up.
Those changes might have accounted for Bangor’s slow start to proceedings with the visitors twice going close in the opening three minutes. Ryan Craig wastefully skewed wide from 14 yards when teed up by Gerald Gillan before former-Bangor player Gareth McLaughlin forced Gibbons’ into a smart save low to his right with a skidding 20-yard effort.
In Cooling’s absence, Jack Mallin was on set-piece duty and he forced visiting goalkeeper Liam Coyle into a fingertip save at the foot of his post after a 25-yard dipping free kick.
While Adam Calvert just missed the target from distance, the lively Ryan Craig should have given his side the lead but he lifted his effort wide of the target after reacting to a quickly taken Gillan throw-in as the Bangor defence was caught flat-footed.
Bangor thought they had broken the deadlock just past the half hour mark when Gerard McMullan raced onto a Sammy Devine header which had looped over the visiting defence. McMullan squared the ball to the unmarked Ben Arthurs who tapped the ball into the empty net but referee Keith Hughes ruled out the goal, believing that Arthurs had strayed into an offside position.
McMullan was beginning to find some joy on the right wing as he fired straight at Coyle before finding the side netting within quick succession.
But on the stroke of half time, a Brandon Nelson miss-hit left Lewis Magee clear on goal but Darren Gibbons was off his line quickly to deny the forward.
That was to be Nelson’s last contribution as he was replaced by the returning Ben Roy at the break while Michael Halliday took the place of Ben Arthurs in the 50thminute.
That change came moments after Arthurs had crossed for Ethan Boylan but the Bangor forward could not find the target with his header from eight yards.
Bangor nullified the threat which the opposition offered in the first half but despite their more attacking setup in the second half, the Seasiders failed to trouble Liam Coyle.
Instead Bangor became frustrated and threatened to lose their discipline as they searched for a breakthrough with McMullan, Roy, Wray and Boylan all picking up yellow cards in the final fifteen minutes.
At the final whistle it was the Ballymoney United men who celebrated a well-earned point while for the Seasiders, it felt like two points dropped.
Bangor: Gibbons, Beattie, Widdowson, Nelson (46′ Roy), Mallin, McMullan, Devine, Arthurs (51′ Halliday), Boylan, Calvert (61′ Long).
Booked: McMullan, Roy, Wray, Boylan
Ballymoney Utd: Coyle, Coyles (67′ McVicker), Stinson, McConaghy, Boyle, McClelland, Gillan, Craig (88′ Silakowski), Magee, McLaughlin, Dempsey. Subs not used: Lundy, Weir, Kearney
Booked: Gillan, Dempsey
