Towns Cup:
Lurgan 1st XV 9 - Ards 2nd XV 15

Last week Ards seconds were in action at Lurgan in the first round of the Towns Cup.
The game started well for the Ards men as they went on the attack right from the kick off. The Lurgan forwards fielded the Ards kick and were immediately driven backwards by McCombe, Bloxham and Dawson. Lurgan managed to regroup and after some five minutes worked their way back into the Ards half, but some great tackling in the midfield by Ferguson and Crawford ensured that the Ards defensive line held tight.
The two sides continued to probe each other looking for a weakness in the defensive line. Just after the twenty minute mark, Ards finally surged deep into the opposition half only to be stopped on the twenty two meter line. Lurgan were penalised at the ruck for diving in off their feet. A quick tap was taken by Kenny McCombe who drove over the Lurgan try line, but as the referee could not see a clear grounding off the ball the try was denied. From the resulting scrum the number eight Ross Reid set up clean ball for scrum half Simon Hamilton to pick and snipe through the Lurgan forwards scoring just to the right of the posts. Paul Cox converted to put Ards in front by seven points.
Ards fielded the restart only to fumble the ball and loose position. This gave Lurgan the opportunity they had been looking for, as they attacked the Ards line with their older more experienced forwards pack resulting in Ards giving away an easy penalty directly in front of the posts. A few minutes later Ards were again penalised for an infringement at the breakdown. Lurgan again took the three point to put themselves right back in the game with a half time score of 6 points to 7 in Ards favour.
The second half started with Ards again attacking right from the kick off. Despite continuing to have problems at scrum time the Ards forwards dominated the Lurgan pack in the loose and with Chivers and Dawson working well together at the lineout, the backline were provided clean ball to attack from.
From an Ards lineout just inside the Lurgan half the ball was carried up by centre Alan Crawford, the forwards cleared the ruck, again leaving clean ball for the backs. Paul Cox dropped into the pocket drop kicking a goal from just left of the posts. Ards 10, Lurgan 6.
From the restart Bloxham surged forward driving up to the halfway line. The rest of the forwards continued the momentum as they battled forwards again leaving clean ball for the backs to attack from. This time the ball was spun wide and Michael Taylor attacking from full back chipped the ball down the left wing, out paced the defence, and gathered the ball to score in the corner.
Again Lurgan answered by kicking their third penalty of the afternoon bringing the score to within a converted try. With five minutes to go this seemed to give the home side belief and they began an all out attack of the Ards line. Credit must be give to both the Ards forwards and backs as they again stood firm preventing the home side from crossing the line.

The Ards squad were as follows: McNally, Chivers, Garrett, R Hamilton, Presho, Dawson, Bloxham, McCombe, Reid, S Hamilton, Cox, Scott, Jess, Ferguson, Crawford, McAllister, Taylor.

This week the Seconds have Rainey 2nd XV at home in the second round of the Towns cup and with only a few minor knocks should again be at full strength for the fixture.