Neil Watson
BANGOR’s preparations for a return to the Sports Direct Premiership continued on Tuesday night as Lee Feeney utilised his squad with two different sides in action.
Ahead of the Seasiders kicking off their top flight campaign on Sunday, August 10 against Cliftonville at Clandeboye Park, Feeney split his squad in two with one side taking on St James’ Swifts at home while the other travelled to Glenavy to face Crewe United.
Against former Ballymena Intermediate League rivals St James’ Swifts, Bangor took an early lead when a winger from England, on trial with the club this week, marked his first appearance by converting Ross Ferguson’s low pass.
Ben Arthurs doubled Bangor’s lead before the visitors grabbed a goal either side of half-time to level the scores.
Bangor’s triallist goalkeeper was in action to deny the visitors in the second half, but it was a third player guesting for the Seasiders that scored the winning goal with 12 minutes to go as he brilliantly controlled a lofted through ball before slotting home.
At Crewe Park a more experienced Bangor side ran out comfortable winners. Matthew Ferguson, Ben Cushnie and Mick Morgan all bagged braces, while Stephen McGuinness and an own goal made it a resounding victory against the Mid-Ulster league winners.
While pleased to see his side record victories, that’s not the priority at the minute for Lee Feeney as he readies his squad for the challenges of the Premiership.
“Pre-season is all about fitness and getting minutes into the legs of the players while staying injury free,” explained the Bangor manager.
“So as far as that is concerned we’re in a decent place at the minute. I think we’re moving in the right direction and I’m really pleased with the attitude from all of the players.
“It has been tougher for the players this pre-season because we’ve moved to training four days a week during the summer and that is really showing in our fitness levels.”
Feeney continued: “We’ve brought in experience in both Gareth Deane and Mark Haughey. Both of them have won a lot in their careers and they know the Premiership inside out so they will be important players for us.
“We also brought Ross Ferguson back to the club which was important because he is a very talented local lad. He has bags of ability and a great attitude so I’m expecting a lot for him as he starts his senior career.
“With Stephen McGuinness we know what we are going to get and he knows the club. He made a really good impression when he was with us for the first half of last season so I was delighted to be able to bring him back,” he said.
“But we have more work to do during this transfer window. We’ll be adding a couple more players this week as we look to strengthen the squad ahead of the season.”
