BANGOR manager Lee Feeney will once again prepare his side to do battle with Newington as the two sides meet at Clandeboye Park this Saturday (3pm).
The race for the Premier Intermediate League title will not be decided on Saturday afternoon, but the Bangor boss knows how important the outcome could be for both sides. “There are going to be twists and turns in the split,” admitted Feeney. “There are very good sides in the top half and it will be a massive challenge for any team to win all of their games because of the quality of teams they will face. “From a manager’s perspective it’s not ideal to play Newington so soon after last week. “Our plan, our team selection and our approach last weekend all paid off so typically you would do that again. “But you can guarantee that Newington will do something different because they lost. They will be looking for revenge and we will need to counteract that. “We’ll do our homework though and make sure that we are in the best shape to get another result next week.” Last weekend’s victory left Feeney full of praise for his side’s attitude and determination to put right their performance from a fortnight ago against Banbridge Town. On that occasion a poor day for goalkeeper Matty Anderson proved costly for a lacklustre Bangor side, but the young shot stopper has the full support of his manager. “Matty has been super for us this season,” stated Feeney. “He is still very young, particularly for a goalkeeper, so he is going to have little bits of inconsistency, but in my opinion he’s the best goalkeeper in the league. “He is a very laid back person, so any mistakes don’t faze him and he is able to get them out of his system quickly and that’s a real gift. We know he will only get better as well. “The performance at Banbridge was a blip and Matty knows he had a bad game. I had every faith in Matty to put that right on Saturday and he did just that. “He had to make one excellent save in the first half but his whole performance was first class. “But the response across the whole team was really pleasing. We were under pressure because we needed to win the game and the boys handled it brilliantly and stepped up. “We really dominated the game and created so many chances. We played with great energy, great intensity and everyone played a part in that. “Results are the most important thing especially at this stage of the season but when you get both a good result and a good performance together then it’s very satisfying. “The only criticism I would have is that we didn’t win by a great margin. Some of that was down to poor finishing but to be fair to their goalkeeper he made three absolutely top class saves. “It’s now about maintaining this level of performance consistently for the remainder of the season.”
