Hockey: Positives in defeat for Bangor City men after a cracking contest at Colwyn Bay

Eirias 2nds 4 Bangor City 2

Bangor City men’s hockey team went down 4-2 in an entertaining friendly match away to Eirias 2nds on Saturday.

On a cold afternoon in Colwyn Bay, the young city eleven competed well throughout against an experienced and well-drilled outfit.

After Eirias hit the post early on, City battled back and got their noses in front through Dave Paterson, who scored at the second attempt after Paul McCallum gather-and-pass from Ash Hardaker’s sublime 50 metre aerial pass.

The second quarter saw Eirias up the tempo and despite the best attempts of goalkeeper Keith Proudlove, the hosts managed to score three times within that period to take command of the game.

Both sides created chances during the third quarter, with Proudlove again making some crucial stops to prevent Eirias from going further ahead.

Bangor pulled one back on 55 minutes when good interplay between McCallum and Tom Hughes saw the ball fed into Flynn Holt in the ‘D’. Holt squeezed a shot past the Eirias keeper from close range.

However two minutes later, with City eagerly looking for a third, Eirias sprung a swift counter-attack and netted an all-important fourth to put the game past Bangor.

Despite the defeat, there were positives for City to take from the game, as they played some attractive passing hockey for long periods and gave some promising youngsters more invaluable game time against a good opposition.