Ards supporters' team took a squad of eight to Eddie Irvine's Sports Centre in Bangor on Sunday past to participate in the Irish League Supporters Habitat Cup.

The charity event was organised by Bangor supporter David Watson in an attempt to raise money for Habitat, an organisation which funds housing developments in Belfast.

Ards were drawn in Group B of the 6-a-side tournament along with Bangor, Glenavon and an ILS Forums Select. In the first game Ards took to the pitch in replanted fashion, wearing the club's new Daily Mirror kit which supporters collected valiantly for over the winter months. The lovely new kit will be used by our youth team next season.

On the pitch Ards went down 5-2 to Glenavon conceding three goals early on. Ards pulled two goals back through Keith Gilmore, but their sleepy start made a comeback unlikely.

In the second game Ards ran the select side close again with a 4-1 defeat (Gilmore scoring again), but unfortunately a slow start cost the Red and Blue Army once again.

By this stage Ards already knew that they were unable to qualify but it was still possible to ruin Bangor's hopes of winning the cup, which we duly did. In a hard fought and tight encounter Ards denied Bangor a win even though the Seasiders took the lead. Ards equalised through Keith Gilmore to deny Bangor a semi final spot.

Their one point was unfortunately not enough to keep Ards off the bottom of the group table which meant they qualified for the Wooden Spoon Play-Off against other competition strugglers Cliftonville.

Unfortunately a tired Ards struggled once again and even with an own goal adding to strikes from Keith Gilmore and Davy Mulholland, Ards were beaten 5-3, seeing them collect the competition's wooden spoon. Crusaders were the eventual tournament winners, defeating Portadown in the final.

Despite the poor results all Ards fans had an excellent day and were happy to contribute to the Habitat charity. If you'd like to do the same, you can by visiting habitat.org

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