Dungannon Swifts 3

COLIN Malone’s reign at Banbridge Town got off to a losing start on Thursday night as Dungannon Swifts breezed past the locals.

While it may be only have been his new look side’s first game together as a team it was clear to see that a lot of work needs to be done ahead of the start of the Championship on August 2.

New faces for the Town included Kris Malone in goal, Jeff Brady at left back, Thomas McStravick and Neil King at centre back, Ryan Hill in midfield and Aidan McVeigh up front.

Looking the most impressive out of the new boys was McVeigh, who looked strong and assured up front.

Returning for the locals were Philip Derby, Barry Tumilty, Dee McParland and there was a surprise with the inclusion of Timmy Grant and Mark Quinn in the starting line-up after they had been exiled from the club by previous manager Michael Lamont.

This was Dungannon’s second pre-season game, having beaten Desermartin last Saturday. It was the first time both sides had played on the 3G pitch at Cheney Park and both sides took a while to adjust to the synthetic pitch.

Ex-Town forward Aaron Baker had the first real chance of the game just after a quarter of an hour when the bounce of the ball allowed him through to toe-poke the ball from the edge of the box, lobbing just over the top of the bar.

A cross in to former Linfield striker Timmy Adamson let him chest down and lay the ball back to Rodney McAree, shooting low along the ground for the Swifts.

Jamie Tomelty, a player who should be known well to Banbridge Town fans from his time at Coagh, opened the scoring after 27 minutes with a cool finish. John Paul Gallagher played a neat pass down the line to Baker who backheeled to Adamson. His tidy pass into Tomelty let him slot home from 14 yards.

McVeigh handed the Town their best chance of the half on 35 minutes as his free kick bounced narrowly wide of the post.

Dungannon continued to dominate the game and went close through the impressive Shea McGerrigan who forced a save from the Town goalkeeper with a volley from 20 yards, and then from Baker when his chipped shot came back off the post.

In the second half a cross in to Baker saw him miss an absolute sitter from two yards when it probably would have been easier to score.