THERE was much for Bangor manager Lee Feeney to feel frustrated about as he reflected on his side’s draw with Crusaders on Saturday.
Feeney had seen his side take a two-goal lead at Seaview before the home side pulled a goal back after 55 minutes.
A penalty awarded to the Crues left Feeney frustrated and that was compounded further when goalkeeper Gareth Deane had to be substituted through an injury picked up in the collision that led to the home side levelling from the penalty spot.
Referee Ben McMaster did nothing to help the Bangor manager’s mood when he waved away strong penalty appeals in the dying minutes after Ben Arthurs appeared to be brought down in the box as he prepared to shoot.
“I feel very frustrated,” admitted Feeney.
“Losing a two-goal lead is disappointing but we showed plenty of character to dig in and grind out a draw when we could have ended up losing the game.
“Losing Gareth Deane to injury as Crusaders equalised made it a tough final 15 minutes when they had all the momentum, but the character, discipline and work rate we showed was first class,” he said.
“They’re a really good attacking team and they are hard to contain. It was a big ask for us to stop their creativity and intelligence, especially when they got a bit of momentum in the second half.
“Crusaders scored a good first goal, but I thought the second goal was never a penalty. I’ll look at it from our perspective to see how one long ball took out our defence, but I didn’t think it was a penalty at the time, and I’ve seen it back and I still don’t think it was a penalty.”
Feeney continued: “Gareth Deane came out and got to the ball first then the two players collide.
“That isn’t a penalty, but I can understand why the referee has given it because it was a tough decision.
“What I cannot understand is how we didn’t get a penalty right at the end when Ben Arthurs was clean through and he got taken out from behind in the box. The referee was about the only person in the ground who didn’t think it was a foul and that is very frustrating.
“We’re fighting hard to get points at the minute and if that decision is given then we should be leaving Seaview with three points.”
