IFA Championship 1
Banbridge Town 2-3 Ards

This 3-2 win over Banbridge took Ards to the summit of Championship 1, but it took a very late goal from Nathan McConnell to make sure of the three points.

Ards had led the game twice only to be pegged back by their resilient Banbridge opponents. It took until the second minute of injury time for the match to be settled when man of the moment McConnell popped up at the back post to net his seventh goal in six games.

The opening chance of the game went to Banbridge on six minutes when a cross from the right side of the field found the No.11 in plenty of space on the left side of the area and he connected with a first time volley that keeper Graeme McKibbin had to get down smartly to save at his right hand post.

It was just a minute later when Ards took the lead. A move up the field involving Kyle McDowell, saw him slip the ball inside to McConnell who took an early shot that crashed off the crossbar and down onto the goal-line. There were thoughts that the ball might have crossed the line, but McConnell's strike partner Ross Arthurs took no chances and followed up quickly to head past the goalkeeper.

For five minutes Ards looked like they might be about to take a firm grip of the game as several good passing moves had the Banbridge defence in disarray. But the Town responded with some determined play of their own, complimented by some sloppy passing from their Ards opponents. On 18 minutes Chris Kingsberry, who had turned out for Ards last season, stole the ball from McDowell in the centre of the park and moved it forward for the No.9 who produced a shot that McKibbin had to tip over for a corner.

Ards were still making plenty of chances but few efforts were coming off for them. On 24 minutes a lay-off from defender Rab Young, who had advanced up the field, played in Aaron McKee but he placed a shot wide from 25 yards. A few minutes later and Banbridge got in behind the Ards lines again as a through pass had several Ards defenders watching and the shot from No.11 skipped narrowly wide of the target.

On the half hour Ards went within a whisker of doubling their lead when a ball in from the left from the hard-working Mark Picking sought out McConnell. His glancing header saw the ball onto McDowell at the right side of the area and he placed a header over the advanced keeper with a goal denied only by a covering defender on the line.

As quickly as that chance was denied, Banbridge levelled the game. Thirty-two minutes gone when a break from the home side through the middle of the field put Kingsberry in on goal and he headed straight for the huge gap between Ards' back two - Cully and Nixon - before finishing low past McKibbin to the left hand corner.

The Ards team surely heard some harsh words from boss Justin McBride at half-time, yet they emerged from the tunnel looking far from the team pushing for the top spot. Chances were being made, but mis-placed passing continued to keep Banbridge in the hunt. The early openings of the second half did go to Ards though with Picking supplying a corner ball to James Cully, who put sent a powerful header across goal.

The league's top goal-scorer Nathan McConnell Picture: Gareth McCluskey

On 59 minutes Picking showed his worth again as he beat two men on the right and sent a cross over that was deflected up onto the crossbar by a defender. Ards couldn't follow up on that chance but they did manage to find the net for a second time in the 65th minute. Credit goes to Ross Arthurs for the goal, who did superbly in chasing a loose ball right to the bye-line and getting over a decent cross which McKee smashed first time into the top corner.

Ards followed that up a minute later with Picking winning the ball in midfield and playing it to McKee on the right side. He sent an expertly threaded pass through the middle of the Banbridge defence to find McConnell who was out of luck again, this time hitting the side netting.

With Ards failing time and again to put their opponents away, the inevitable second Banbridge goal arrived with just ten minutes of play remaining. Town had been awarded a free kick some four or five yards outside the Ards area for a foul by Cully, for which the Ards man was booked. The original take was rebounded out by the Ards wall, with Jimmy McIlhagga following the ball out and going into the tackle a little too enthusiastically. That presented Banbridge with another free kick from almost the same spot, which this time was sent curling over the Ards wall and into McKibbin's far right corner.

It looked for the remainder of the ninety minutes that Ards would have to settle for the draw, but two minutes into injury time that all changed. Ards won a throw-in high up the left touchline, taken by McDowell and played back to him by Cully. McDowell sent the ball quickly over into the middle, finding McConnell at the back post, where he out-jumped his marker to head the winner past a watching goalkeeper. That turned out to be the goal that would take Ards to top spot, although all eyes would be on how fellow title-challengers Newry City would respond on Sunday afternoon.

Scorers Ross Arthurs 7, Aaron McKee 62, Nathan McConnell 90+2

Ards Team 1 Graeme McKibbin (GK), 2 Rab Young, 5 Darren Nixon (capt.), 14 James Cully, 16 Ciaran Boyd, 19 Mark Picking, 11 Aaron McKee, 17 Jimmy McIlhagga, 7 Kyle McDowell, 9 Nathan McConnell, 10 Ross Arthurs

Substitutes 4 Gary Spence (for Boyd 71), 12 David Cully, 15 Adam Arthurs, 18 Paul McKnight

Referee A Burns

3rd September 2011

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