Reports by Peter McKnight.  1st XI Vs Regent. On Saturday morning a refreshed Banbridge Academy First Eleven squad travelled to Ards Leisure Centre to take on Regent House in preparation for next weekend’s away tie to Cookstown in the opening game of their McCullough cup campaign.
As the game started, the Academy team looked the better of the two sides with the trio of Andrew Bennington, Kyle Marshall and Jake Rowe pathing their way through the Regent midfield with good interlinking play. The Banbridge lads were first to get their names on the scoresheet as a sharp decisive one-two found its way to Peter McKnight who wove his way past numerous defenders before crossing the ball to the back post where the awaiting Joel Reid tapped the ball into an open net to give Bann a one goal advantage. As the first half continued on, Mark Adair and Charlie Norris tried to find an opening to double the lead but were both unlucky on several occasions. However the Regent side who were not backing down, moved the ball nicely into unseen gaps in the Banbridge defense but were not successful on any occasion due to solid defending from James Anderson and Dylan Cowan. Regent proceeded to put pressure on the Banbridge back line but their players were denied on several occasions due to some fine keeping from Luke Roleston who was able to somehow single-handedly defend several short corners to ensure his team had the advantage going into the half time interval. Half time beckoned and the Banbridge boys threw everything they had at Regent, coming close to doubling their lead when Jake Rowe tried to slot the ball into the side net of the Regent goal after leaving his man for dead but he was denied by a superb save by the Regent keeper, tipping it over the bar to ensure the Banbridge team could not double its lead.
The second half commenced at a slower tempo that the first half with both teams having passages of sloppy play. However the floodgates were opened just a few minutes into the second half by Nathan Liggett who was played through on goal due to some sharp passing involving Peter McKnight and Jake Rowe before powerfully slapping the ball through the keeper and into the corner of the Regent goal, meaning that Banbridge had doubled their lead. As the half continued, the game started to pick up pace with the Banbridge side showing and using their physicality to creep through any gaps in the Regent backline, and they were successful in doing so when Jake Rowe found himself one on one with the Regent keeper before picking his spot and calmly sweeping the ball into the corner of the Regent goal, giving Banbridge a three goal advantage. Banbridge increased its lead to four goals to nil after sharp thinking from Jake Rowe who pinged a pin-point pass from outside the 25m line which found its way to Nathan Liggett who cressed the ball into the Regent net through a neat deflection from the back post. The fifth goal came from a superb first time reverse from Mark Barlow. The game was wrapped up with 5 minutes to go when star man Jake Rowe once again showed what he was capable of by wriggling his way past three bodies before carefully putting the ball through the keeper to give the Banbridge side a six goal lead and to round off a successful day for the Academy side.
The side will begin their McCullough cup campaign away to Cookstown on Saturday.