As far as draws go, one in an away day against a team that some earmarked as outside title contenders is hardly to be scoffed at. Bangor’s trip to east Belfast, where Harland and Wolff Welders were in waiting, was to result in an outcome leaving few dissatisfied; dead even in the vast majority of departments, these outfits split by goal difference before kick-off still could not be divided in 90 minutes of football, yielding a worthwhile share of the spoils.
Another clean sheet – a fourth in the Seasiders’ last half a dozen league duels – warms the hearts of a coaching staff who take pride in maintaining such high standards in the rearguard, and with only a late red card blotting the copybook, there is a sense of confidence and belief on show from the five matches that Lee Feeney’s men have gone unbeaten that will be carried into a tantalising tussle against the league leaders next up.
Good point gained at Blanchflower as Feeney’s Bangor go five games unbeaten
In comparison to the previous week, the weather smiled a bit more on Bangor for this away encounter.
With rainfall forecast, the clouds hung over but there was to be no torrent as far as the conditions were concerned; quite some contrast to the wet climate that greeted those travelling west for the fixture in Ballinamallard.
Indeed, it remained dry. The only semblance of precipitation observable could be seen on the players’ faces, sweat dripping as the battle ensued and as every drop of energy was left on Blanchflower Park’s artificial surface on Saturday.
What promised to be a close-fought clash would live up to that billing.
Seasiders boss Lee Feeney unveiled a couple of alterations in his starting line-up against Harland and Wolff Welders.
Starting line-up:
Bangor manager Lee Feeney made three adjustments to the team that overcame Ballinamallard United seven days prior, as Ben Cushnie, Dylan O’Kane and Ben Walker all entered the first-eleven for the encounter against H&W Welders. Image from myself.
Ben Cushnie, introduced from the bench at Ferney Park and scoring a brace to put the seal on the three points against the Mallards, was reinstated to the first XI. Figuring as one of the line-leading pair in east Belfast, Adam Neale made way as Ben Arthurs retained his ever-present status, while Scott McArthur likewise maintained his place behind them.
Adam’s brother Reece joined him among the seven subs – the vice-captain hadn’t missed a minute hitherto – with Ben Walker preferred at left wing-back, and the third adjustment saw Dylan O’Kane slot in alongside Lewis Harrison in midfield; Jack Henderson dropped to the bench as a result, with the two Bangor natives trading places throughout recent weeks.
Substitutes:
Of the players to drop out, all three were named among the subs. Jack Henderson and Neale brothers Reece and Adam both dropped down to a bench where experience was a common theme, with Michael Halliday included in a fifth consecutive matchday squad. Image from myself.
Meanwhile, on the Welders end, top goalscorer Michael McLellan would have to make his mark as a replacement – not that his fear factor is any less from the bench, given he has four goals in under 300 minutes of Championship football this season throughout a mix of start and bench – with Tiarnan O’Connor instead deployed as the partner to last term’s 26-goal top marksman Matthew Ferguson.
And Bangor fans weren’t to get a glimpse of Jamie Glover in a Welders shirt.
The 22-year-old was not named among the matchday 18, although young guns Ewan McCoubrey, Lewis Barr, Jack Kinner and Lewis Patterson were all included from the start.
Both Feeney and his adjacent supremo Paul Kee had their teams armed and ready for battle.
Referee Michael McKenna signalled for the joust to commence.
The first blows were tentative. To start, Arthurs slipped an enterprising cut-back into the box six minutes in but could only find the waiting gloves of goalkeeper Michael Argyrides; on 11 minutes, O’Connor checked onto a lofted ball over the top, although his heavy miscontrol scuppered any hopes he had of staring down James Taylor one-on-one.
The game’s first threatening shot arose with 18 minutes played. After O’Connor attempted to slip the ball back into the danger zone from the inside right, he garnered a corner for the home team. From there, an inswinging delivery was supplied which Kyle Owens towered to meet, but the centre-back guided wide of the right-hand post.
Battle stations:
It was always tipped to be a full-blooded and physical battle with Kyle Owens and Ben Arthurs on opposing sides. Centre-back Owens, whose brother Jordan is Crusaders’ record goalscorer and an ex-team-mate of Arthurs’ older brother Ross, turned in an impressive shift. Image from Jordan Connolly/Life Through A Lens NI.
Four minutes later, the ball was in the net – but not to stand.
The forward menace that is Ferguson – goal-getting is clear in his blood given his father Glenn banged in almost 300 Irish League goals – rolled home after the ball was sent behind the Bangor defence, but the assist, provided by the attack-minded McCoubrey, was ruled to have been played from an offside position. Few complaints were had.
Few complaints in part because the Welders were upping the ante.
On 24 minutes, it was Walker to the rescue.
From the left flank the yellow-and-black-striped side directed their play this time, and it so nearly paid off; the low centred ball skimmed by all in the vicinity of the six-yard box, and a back-post runner looked a sure bet to bury home in his stride, but teenage talent Walker nipped in and cleared to safety precisely when Bangor so desperately needed it.
That was a let-off, but what composure from the Larne loanee.
Player spotlight:
Although he was replaced at half-time when Reece Neale entered the fray, the vital intervention by Ben Walker at the back post to clear and put pains to what would have been a certain goal for H&W Welders was one of the game’s most defining actions. The 18-year-old on loan from Larne has looked the part. Image from Gary Carson.
Still the east Belfast boys hunted. 27 minutes in, Joshua Kee, who had replaced the stricken Jonny Frazer inside the contest’s first quarter-hour, angled the ball into Ferguson but for the one-time Distillery ace to let it slip. Right on the stroke of the half-hour, it was Taylor’s turn to thwart the frontman when he clutched his close-range header.
Perhaps Ferguson’s most spectacular effort of the day came on 32 minutes. He attempted a thrilling bicycle kick as his desperation to bag a fourth league goal of the campaign further intensified, but Taylor watched as the 27-year-old’s acrobatic try sailed by the left upright.
On the chase for what would have been his 30th Championship finish since returning from a two-year injury absence, you could tell that the striker’s confidence was well replenished.
Chances at the other end thereafter started to emerge, though.
Keeping the back door closed:
Another one of the game’s major prospective battles came between Bangor centre-back Lewis Francis and Welders line-leader Matthew Ferguson, who were forecast to be engaged in a constant jostling to gain an edge over the opposite number. As far as 19-year-old Francis is concerned, he can take heart from having held his nerve and helped preserve a clean sheet despite Ferguson’s prowess. Image from Jordan Connolly/Life Through A Lens NI.
Both midfielders saw efforts raise over the crossbar within minutes of each other. First off, a deflection teed up Harrison to pull the trigger from 20 yards, only for the captain to just miss the mark against his former team.
O’Kane, from slightly further out, saw his curling attempt again nestle in the Welders’ main stand as the minutes ticked down to half-time.
At the interval, it remained goalless.
Never really a clash that ignited, it was also by no means for the want of trying that either team were going in to break the deadlock.
The balance of play was shifting and plateauing, the defensive lines called on to weather storms when they came but they never extended beyond a brief spurt. A half that flowed and ebbed, the aspirations were that a game-changing moment on the horizon; after all, there could be bubbles seen within the cauldron.
There was a change of a literal kind at the interval. Walker made way for Reece Neale in a like-for-like switch at left wing-back.
And when the action restarted, the goal-mouth activity kicked on in haste.
On the 47-minute mark, the Welders laid down their first statement of the second period.
Now firing from left to right, Taylor had to have his bearings checked when Kinner fizzed one from range, but the 19-year-old midfielder’s testing endeavour inched over the bar having only just dipped too late.
An intuitive flick by McArthur eight minutes later almost twisted the knife. The 24-year-old, who has already fired home against both Ballyclare Comrades and Portadown this season, scooped up Arthurs’ cut-back from the inside-right, but his backheeled flick towards goal found a match in Argyrides; the Canadian shot-stopper smothered low at the local lad’s feet.
Argyrides, once a team-mate of Cushnie’s at Glentoran – indeed, Bangor faced him in goals during a Steel and Sons Cup last-16 tie against the Glens’ second string just under a year ago – then denied the young forward in stylish fashion.
It was a well-taken and grounded curling effort by an in-form Cushnie, but a third goal in two matches was not to beckon for him when the alert goalkeeper pushed around the post.
The impressive stopper really should have been beaten by Arthurs on 74 minutes, though. It wasn’t quite to be for the Kircubbin man; he plucked out substitute Henderson’s ball with an inspirational first touch, and one would have backed the 112-goal Seasider to bolster his tally when bearing down on goal in a one-on-one.
Alas, he slotted wide of the left post.
The closest chance of the game had come and gone, and the hands on heads were palpable from the pitch to the side.
Leading the line as effervescently as ever, that bubbling cauldron had reached boiling point – but, in truth, you could not begrudge Arthurs for his persistence, nor could you really say a draw was an unfair outcome as the fixture climaxed.
Keeps things ticking over:
From the right-sided centre-back position he has most commonly been seen in this season, Sean Brown has been finding the right balance between being brave on the ball and knowing when to play it safe. That was once again on show during Saturday’s endeavour, with the latter perhaps more the case. Image from Jordan Connolly/Life Through A Lens NI.
Adam Neale and Arthurs both saw further tries veer wide, while a Welders set-piece header was again held by Taylor. The veteran former Glenavon man was well worth his fourth shut-out in only six matches this term, and the game was to end in a cordial goalless stalemate.
Albeit not before one last flashpoint.
Having tried to hook the ball back into the danger zone during one final fleeting attempt to snatch victory, Harrison’s acrobatic overhead kick instead caught the forging Patterson rather than the size-five sphere.
Stat attack:
Lewis Harrison’s sending-off leaves his namesake, Lewis Francis, as the only Bangor player to have played every single minute this campaign to date. It was another good effort from the Magherafelt teenager.
McKenna gave the former Linfield Academy player a talking-to for a seemingly innocuous misdemeanour… before brandishing a second yellow that only means one thing.
The skipper was off.
It was a call that left Bangor fans scratching their heads.
While, yes, he had been booked two minutes before the break for a dangling boot that stopped his home counterpart in his tracks, the call on this occasion looked a harsh one, especially given that Harrison could scarcely have seen his opposite number rushing in as he raised his boot.
Stat attack:
Lewis Harrison’s sending-off was the first red card brandished to a Bangor player since April 19, 2022 – 516 days prior. On that occasion, David Hume saw red for a deliberate goal-saving handball against Dollingstown in the PIL.
In any case, the influential midfielder will be banned for this coming week’s assignment.
But that was a rare drawback on the day.
McKenna signalled for time. Goalless it stayed.
The consensus was that it was a good point – and, when one considers that the Welders were being tipped by some to fight for the title this term, that must be factored in.
With 11 points from seven matches, the small gains are important too.
Sometimes, when it doesn’t go for you in front of goal, you need to keep solid at the back – and when you are solid at the back, you can take a share of the spoils out of tense contests like these.
| Playr-Fit Championship | Matchday Seven (16/9/23) | ||
| Ards | 4 | 2 | Dergview |
| Ballinamallard United | 0 | 1 | Institute |
| Ballyclare Comrades | 0 | 0 | Annagh United |
| Harland and Wolff Welders | 0 | 0 | Bangor |
| Knockbreda | 0 | 2 | Portadown |
| Newington | 3 | 1 | Dundela |
Although it is a modest slip down the table for Bangor – they go from fourth-place to sixth, owing to victories for Portadown and Institute at the weekend – the emotion was more of satisfaction than it was of concern, no doubt. The Blanchflower is a tough venue to go and Kee’s troops are hardened; the Seasiders did well.
Foster, who played his fourth match since being recruited for a second season on loan from Cliftonville, believes a positive reaction after a slow start was an important factor en route to a share of the spoils.
“Obviously we started the game very slow and it took us to half-time to regroup and get back into the game and do what we’re good at, so as well as we got to 15 minutes (of the second half) and we pushed on from there,” the Belfast man explained.
“Both teams threw everything they had at each other and no one could put the ball in the back of the net at the end of the day.
The quotes section:
“Obviously we started the game very slow and it took us to half-time to regroup and get back into the game and do what we’re good at, so as well as we got to 15 minutes (of the second half) and we pushed on from there. Both teams threw everything they had at each other and no one could put the ball in the back of the net at the end of the day. That’s what the game’s all about, to get three points, and no one could do it, so yeah, I’d say a draw’s a fair result” – Seanna Foster felt a draw was a fair reflection of the game that had ensued. Image from Jordan Connolly/Life Through A Lens NI.
“That’s what the game’s all about, to get three points, and no one could do it, so yeah, I’d say a draw’s a fair result.
“Keeping clean sheets is massive and that’s what won us titles last year”
Defender Seanna Foster saluted the resolve at the back that Bangor gave when they battled to a point at H&W Welders
“You’re looking at positives, we’d that much chances and we just couldn’t put one in the net, but you look at the other side, we didn’t concede as well which is a big positive.
“Keeping clean sheets is massive and that’s what won us titles last year.”
On Harrison’s red card, which was the first time a Bangor player had been sent for an early bath in over 500 days, Foster maintained a philosophical outlook.
With Playr-Fit Championship leaders Newington visiting Clandeboye Park this Saturday, the respected midfielder’s absence comes as a blow, but the 26-year-old says that it opens the door for others among the panel to shine.
“It’s a harsh one but, you know, when you’re on a yellow card, you can’t really afford to put yourself in them scenarios… it’s one of them,” Foster added.
“We’ve a good squad and someone else is going to get a chance”
Seanna Foster backs whoever will be tasked with filling Lewis Harrison’s void against Newington to make an impact
“We’ve a good squad and someone else is going to get a chance.”
Ladies toast memorable campaign with awards dinner as Reserves keep up red-hot start with win at Limavady
Elsewhere, Bangor FC Ladies celebrated their Awards Dinner on Saturday night, where there was due recognition handed out following a successful season.
On a night to look back at the achievements of the 2023 campaign, in which the Seasiders finished third-place in the NIWFA Championship and reached the PwC Super Cup Final, the awards were plentiful and the craic was good on a proud evening in the Bangor Social Club.
There were honours handed out to goalkeeper Giulia McLaughlin, who received a special award for playing every single minute this season, defender Lucy Hollies (Manager’s Player of the Year), midfielders Janine Jess (Young Player of the Year) and Erin Hennity (Players’ Player of the Year), striker Amber Dempster (Top Goalscorer) and first-team coach Josh Eynon, who took home the Special Recognition Award.
And there was an upbeat reflection on the term now passed from Head of Girls’ and Women’s Football, Michelle Crawford.
“It has indeed been a really exciting season and, despite a few ups and downs on and off the pitch, I believe that it’s been a successful one overall,” she explained.
“The Ladies have made us all so proud at the club, as they wrote themselves into the history books by reaching the PwC Super Cup Final”
Head of Girls’ and Women’s Football Michelle Crawford paid tribute to the achievement of Bangor FC Ladies making it to the PwC Super Cup Final
“The Ladies had good runs in the cup competitions, most notably making the Quarter-Finals of the Toals County Antrim Cup, coming up against Crusaders Strikers, an experienced Premiership team, and reaching the Final of the PwC Super Cup.
The quotes section:
“It has indeed been a really exciting season and, despite a few ups and downs on and off the pitch, I believe that it’s been a successful one overall. The Ladies had good runs in the cup competitions, most notably making the Quarter-Finals of the Toals County Antrim Cup, coming up against Crusaders Strikers, an experienced Premiership team, and reaching the Final of the PwC Super Cup” – Head of Girls’ and Women’s Football Michelle Crawford was proud of Bangor FC Ladies’ achievements this past season.
“The Ladies have made us all so proud at the club, as they wrote themselves into the history books by reaching the PwC Super Cup Final for the very first time, as well as finishing third in a very competitive Championship, scoring an impressive 49 goals in the league.
“For the start of the recent campaign, we installed a change with the management team, appointing Ethan Boylan as manager, Chris Dougan as assistant manager and Josh Eynon as coach.
“I’m delighted with the progress so far.”
Full list of awards winners:
- Ever-present: Giulia McLaughlin
- Manager’s Player of the Year: Lucy Hollies
- Players’ Player of the Year: Erin Hennity
- Young Player of the Year: Janine Jess
- Top goalscorer: Amber Dempster
- Special recognition: Josh Eynon (first-team coach)
Elsewhere, the winning start to the season for Bangor Reserves continued with a slender success on the road to Limavady United.
David Downes’ charges were 3-2 victors at the Rathmore Road Showgrounds, extending their current streak of wins to three from three, scoring 19 goals in the interluding span.
Charley Craig’s brace proved an inspiring factor, while Jay Boyd – who has linked up from Ards Reserves – scored for the second game in succession that ensured the Seasiders just edged a closely-fought affair on the north coast.
Initially meant to play Glebe Rangers Reserves in the Junior Cup, the pulling-out of the Ballymoney outfit also ensured the team’s progression into the next round of the competition – so it could well be seen as a win-win for the Under-20s.
The Junior Shield is the Yellows’ next examination, where they are on the road to Antrim establishment Abbeyview as they aim to keep this most imposing of starts running for as long as possible.
Kick-off at Antrim Forum in the Toals-sponsored competition is 1:30pm on Saturday, September 23.
Featured image from Sarah Harkness.
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