The fight to wrestle the top scorer crown off Ben Arthurs continues into 2024/25, with the striker’s streak of having ended every season as the Seasiders’ leading marksman since he joined the club in 2018 maintained in the first season back in the Championship.

Arthurs scored 25 goals across all competitions, including 18 in the league, to clinch the top scorer’s prize and register his third campaign – in three different leagues – where he has hit the 25-goal marker.

His first-ever four-goal haul in a Bangor shirt, against Ballyclare Comrades in the County Antrim Shield in September, was a standout moment, while goals in the Irish Cup versus Dergview and Portadown as well as a 97th-minute penalty that forced extra-time in the BetMcLean Cup at Coleraine also helped the Kircubbin man maximise his scoring output.

25-year-old Arthurs also has Andy Morrow’s tally of 140 in sight, perched on 131 in a Bangor shirt to date, after a season in which four Bangor players ended in double digits for goals.

Scott McArthur, nominated for Championship Player of the Season, registered a career-high 14 strikes – all in the league – to finish in second behind Arthurs among the club charts, and Adam Neale (11) and Lewis Francis (10) also chipped in to help the Yellows close out as the top-scoring attack in the Championship on 77 finishes.

Neale, who has 38 total goals for Bangor since joining in September 2022, emulated Arthurs and ended up with the match ball following a hat-trick against Annagh United in November.

And, curiously, only Jordan Hughes links up with Arthurs on the list of players to score in the knock-out competitions this term; his decisive double against the Dergs in the Irish Cup Fifth Round made a real difference in January.

Meanwhile, in the assists rankings, Arthurs again tops this category and, for a second season in a row, is into double digits, with 13 of them – 12 in the league – totted up throughout the duration of the campaign.

He dethrones Reece Neale, the 2022/23 assist king with 15, who still comes second-place in the rankings having set up his team-mates for goals 10 times. Touching 40 in all since he first arrived three years ago, the Ballynahinch man’s creativity has been much coveted and, as in Arthurs’ case, highly looked to by Lee Feeney.

Behind that pair in third is a player who only got his tally kicked off in January.

Tiarnan Mulvenna proved a hit from the off after the well-rounded midfielder completed his switch from Glenavon to the seaside on an 18-month professional deal, with six assists from the middle of the park.

There is creativity across the team, which Mulvenna contributed to from the off, and a high level of consistency in his performances is reflected in that impressive early assist total.

In the cups, that trio also contributed one apiece in the Irish Cup, while wing-backs Seanna Foster and Ben Walker – the latter’s free-kick spectacular and first senior finish against Annagh United in October is a happy memory – as well as Adam Neale contributed one each for Ben Arthurs’ four-goal haul in the County Antrim Shield win over Ballyclare Comrades.

In the ‘minutes per’ charts, Jordan Hughes is in command in the ‘goals’ area having scored his two goals across 200 minutes and 13 substitute appearances this season past.

Arthurs also ranks highly in this department as a starter, with his 25 goals coming at a rate of 145.9 minutes per finish, while Neale on 176.5 minutes has mixed between starting and sub features throughout the campaign.

Michael Halliday also falls under the 200-minute marker per goal, at 194.5 minutes per strike, with the evergreen veteran still going strong even approaching his 45th birthday. McArthur, at 195.5 minutes, has perhaps the most marked improvement; he scored a solitary goal in the PIL-winning campaign and five overall at a rate of every 351.2 minutes, but he has trimmed that down this time around with a renewed goal-getting mean streak.

As for ‘assists’, Halliday’s 129.7 minutes per set-up having teed up three team-mates for goals leads the way, with January recruit Mulvenna boasting a mightily impressive 229.3 minutes per assist as a consistent starter from midfield.

Small wonder Bangor supporters are excited to see a full season of the Belfast man in the middle of the park given the variety and industry with which he is able to serve on a plate.

Third in the rankings is Arthurs, whose 13 assists have come at an average of just over one every three games – 280.5 minutes – while Reece Neale, who now has 25 assists since the start of last season from left wing-back as well as the centre of defence, is just over every four matches on 383.1 minutes.

Across both categories, it is once again Halliday who reigns supreme.

The former Glentoran hero, a three-time title winner and two-time Irish Cup champion in his 11 years at The Oval, remains a priceless contributor having rattled the net 47 times since his arrival at Bangor in 2018, and his two goals and three assists at a rate of every 77.8 minutes stands testament to that.

That trumps the 125.4 minutes per goal or assist he registered in 2022/23, and two assists in a last-gasp 3-2 comeback success over Ballyclare Comrades at Dixon Park in December and a clinching strike in February’s 3-1 North Down Derby win will be forever etched in the minds of the Clandeboye faithful.

And, for a second straight season, Ben Arthurs falls under the 100-minute marker in this regard. His 25 goals and 13 assists have come at a rate of one every 96.0 minutes – not quite as low as the astronomical 61.5 minutes he closed on in 2022/23, but for his first season playing in the Championship, that is seriously good stuff.

Joining those two in gaining noteworthy acclaim for their rate of goal contributions among the forward line last term are Adam Neale (138.6 minutes), McArthur (150.4 minutes) and Ben Cushnie (152.1 minutes).

The latter, who has committed his future to Bangor and signed a two-year professional deal to sign permanently following his initial loan from Glentoran, may have found injuries to be disruptive but still made a hugely positive impact when available. Cushnie’s six goals, added to three assists, in 1354 minutes is a strong return, and that he seemed to find his best form in the post-split with finishes away to Dundela and Institute also bodes well for his future prospects in yellow and blue.

Give Lewis Francis his flowers, too. The Magherafelt centre-back, so revered during his loan spell from Dungannon Swifts, had an incredible first season of regular first-team football that was marked with 10 goals and three assists from the back, 13 goal involvements coming at a rate of one every 267.6 minutes. That’s more than one every three games on average. Not bad going for someone who seems destined for a big future in the game.

In the appearances chart, you will find only one player to have not missed a match this term. The Seasiders played 43 games in all competitions, with 3,890 minutes’ worth of football in that span – and Reece Neale missed just 59 of those minutes all season.

Playing every single match and appearing from the start in all but one – a goalless draw with Harland and Wolff Welders in mid-September – the vice-captain was heavily looked upon by Feeney to produce the goods week in, week out, even when playing outside of his natural position in the centre of defence.

Arthurs wasn’t far behind. ‘Big Ben’ played 3,647 minutes overall and joins Neale as the only two players to have played every game in the Championship this season, missing only one game in total when he was an unused substitute for the trip to Larne in the County Antrim Shield quarter-finals in October.

Indeed, after he was substituted in the 85th minute of the 4-0 victory at Annagh United in late November, he didn’t miss a single kick, playing every available minute from then until the end of the season. Third on the list was goalkeeper James Taylor, who played 39 times across all competitions – 35 in the league, matched by McArthur (2,669 minutes) and Francis (3,479 minutes) – with the 40-year-old keeping 11 clean sheets in all.

Lastly, the dreaded disciplinary column, which has a new leader. Captain Lewis Harrison topped out on the bookings chart, with eight cautions, and he ended as the only player to receive a red card when he was sent off for a second bookable offence at that H&W Welders clash on September 16.

Arthurs, meanwhile, remarkably picked up his first yellow card in 60 appearances during the 3-0 defeat at home to Portadown on Easter Tuesday – his last one beforehand came during the Steel and Sons Cup Final victory over Dunmurry Rec on Christmas Eve 2022 – which proved to be less punishment than three members of the coaching ticket received last term!

Feeney received two cautions, kitman Bradley Ferguson also received two as well as a red card, while assistant coach John Douglas was also shown his marching orders early on.