Bangor continued their sensational turnaround in the season as they beat Belfast Harlequins 9-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Four goals from Ryan Burgess proved to be the pick of the action as his side move to maximum points form their two Kirk Cup fixtures.
The hosts got off to the perfect start with Burgess converting his first penalty corner of the afternoon after just five minutes of play and it didn’t take long for him to bag his second, converting an identical effort into the top right just moments later.
Still within the first ten minutes of play, Belfast Harlequins got a goal of their own back as Zak Irvine was left unmarked in the circle before firing in at the far post to make it 2-1.
Unfortunately for the Belfast side it was downhill from there as Burgess completed his hat-trick before the end of quarter one and Harris Massey added a fourth just two minutes into the second half.
Three more quick-fire goals from David McClune, Sam O’Hara and Craig Campbell saw the scoreline swiftly ramped up to 7-1 ahead of the final quarter.
Captain Matthew Gray got a consolation effort for the visitors at the beginning of the final quarter before Burgess got his fourth of the afternoon and a late JJ Holley strike rounded off a 9-2 victory for Bangor.
Elsewhere in the competition, Portadown continued their fine season as they won 2-1 away to North Down.
A Josh Gilmore strike had given the hosts an initial lead as he netted his second goal of the campaign to open the scoring.
However, top scorer Ryan Bennett netted his seventh of the season for Portadown as he was quickest to react to a rebound from a penalty corner and equalised for his side on the brink of half-time.
The comeback was then complete when the visitors broke on the counter attack before Josh Rowe finished the move to put his side ahead with what proved to be the match-winning goal.
South Antrim bounced back from a midweek defeat to Cookstown as they won 4-2 away to Kilkeel.
The win came courtesy of four goals from Peter Milligan, Jordan Robinson, Chris Henry and O Patterson, marking a winning start to Kirk Cup action for the Lisburn side who have already progressed to this season’s Anderson Cup Final.
In the day’s other games, Cookstown also got their Kirk Cup campaign off to a winning start as they secured a comfortable 6-2 win over P.S.N.I before Instonians bounced back from last week’s heavy defeat with a 4-2 win over Queen’s University.
PHOTO: Front Row Union
