BANGOR City Men's hockey team brought their season to an end with a 3-1 loss away to Warrington on Saturday.
Despite postponements galore for most sporting matches over the weekend, all club hockey matches under the governance of Hockey England went ahead, giving City the chance to bring their North West Hockey League Division Two campaign to an end with a tough trip to face the side who finished second in the standings.
Once again, City brought a young side on their away trip but managed to field a full eleven plus two substitutes, and to their credit, they fought admirably from the first whistle to the last.
Warrington dominated possession during a competitive first half but found it hard to break down the City backline. On the rare occasions that they did, they found City keeper Harri Evans equal to their efforts.
Bangor counter attacked effectively, with Paul McCallum and Flynn Holt shooting just wide on two occasions. After a to-and-fro opening period, the hosts managed to draw first blood on the stroke of half time with a well-worked counter-attacking goal.
City levelled the scored just four minutes into the second half however, as Ash Hardaker lazered a pinpoint 50-yard ball to put Keith Proudlove one-on-one with the Warrington keeper, before the big striker held his nerve to slip a shot past the onrushing glovesman.
Bangor continued to attack confidently and created further opportunities. Flynn Holt pushed a shot narrowly wide after skilfully sidestepping a Warrington defender, while Dan Jackson slammed another effort into the sideboard after good build-up play.
The home side also posed an attacking threat and after some further good saves from goalkeeper Evans, they re-took the lead on 57 minutes with an unstoppable drag-flick from a short corner.
Bangor continued to push, with Ash Hardaker having a late shot saved from a short corner. However, the result was made safe seven minutes from time, when Warrington netted a second superbly-taken drag-flick after defender Gwion Jones was harshly penalised for a push.
In some ways, the match was a reflection of City's season, as a young team with a core of experienced players came up short against a more well-drilled and experienced outfit, but certainly not for lack of effort.
Although City were set to be relegated after finishing second bottom in the 12-team league, it seems they may have been handed a reprieve after Rhyl were provisionally handed a seven point deduction for not fielding a team in their final match of the season, to push Bangor into 10th place and out of the relegation zone.
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