Pre-season is back off to a flyer, with Bangor’s first game of a prospective eight-match listing kicking off this Thursday 30th June against Sirocco Works.
The feel around the club is an intense willingness to do what they failed to do last season and achieve promotion from the Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of the Northern Irish footballing pyramid, and is as true with the board as it is with the fans as it is with the players. There is no doubt that a Championship spot is the overarching target.
Making the step up from the depths of the Ballymena League in the centenary season of 2018-19 marked a much-needed return to the top three leagues. Thanks to Covid-19, it did not take until 2022 before Bangor could actually finish a full third-tier campaign.That term ended in disappointment. The Seasiders finished the season in 2nd-place, qualifying for the promotion/relegation playoff against Knockbreda, and a stunning late fightback deep into added time spearheaded by Ben Arthurs and Zac Fletcher ensured a first leg seemingly destined to end empty-handed instead finished on a level pegging at 2-2.A forward-thinking and chance-laden first half of the second leg at Breda Park ultimately did not yield a goal Bangor would have deserved. Two quickfire goals at the start of the second half for Breda went without reply, and they retained their second-tier spot with a 4-2 aggregate victory.
It was frustrating that last season ended on this flat note. However, the personality to do the business against Banbridge and Armagh City and seal their spot, and indeed the late brilliance to bring something spectacular out of that first leg when the game looked confined to dust and dirt, is an encouraging reflector of the will and want.
At the end-of-season awards ceremony, spirits also looked up. The mood among the players was upbeat, harmonious and happy. It illustrated the mood that the job was not yet done.
The refurbishment of the social club during the course of the season is a sign of how the club is progressing off the pitch as well. It hosted the great Gerry Armstrong just before Christmas, returning to the club where he first made his illustrious name to promote his new autobiography – a recommended read, it must be said. The press box and club shop also got a makeover, with new desks, a brand new carpet and a fresh lick of paint, while plans for a new seated stand to take the place of the dilapidated ‘cowshed’ were laid down as part of making the ground as attractive as possible.
Manager Lee Feeney spoke in the social club of the all-important sense of unity, that eyes on the prize should unanimously not be lost, that there should be the desire to put things right. His speech reflected what everybody already knows. Bangor should be looking up and spurred-on like never before. The attendances at the Armagh City game that closed the league season out and the Knockbreda first leg were simply stunning, and people will get attached to a good thing knowing they will be at the fore of it all.
“Once the (second Knockbreda) match was over, I just wanted the new season to kick off straight away,” he told the County Down Spectator last week. “I knew where we had gone wrong, and I knew what I wanted to do to fix it.”
The club has been active in the transfer market. Ryan Arthur’s return to Clandeboye Park was widely celebrated, an on-pitch leader and vocal presence in defence who proved his abilities in organising his line both in back-three and back-four systems.
Seasoned goalkeeper James Taylor, given a glowing reference for his attitude and endeavour by Glenavon manager Gary Hamilton, is also a returnee (albeit after a far lengthier spell away than Arthur) and can prove his worth both as a competitor and colleague to the younger Matty Anderson, who has re-signed for next season.
“(Taylor) is a goalkeeper that has been around the block and knows the score. Ryan knows the club well and is good in the air,” Feeney said.
“We missed his presence in the second half of last season.”
Leadership is a constant theme in Bangor’s style of recruits, with midfielder Aaron Harris arriving on the back of captaining fellow third-tier outfit Lisburn Distillery last season.
“I signed those three because they all have experience,” Feeney explained, believing this to be a key on the pathway to a rosy and prosperous horizon.
Another arrival follows in the vein of a route taken mid-season last year. Young Australian defender Nick Aretzis was loaned in from Larne in the winter window, and made a positive impression in his technique and ball-playing ability when called upon. Now Ryley D’Sena, ranked as one of the Inver Reds’ hottest prospects who has debuted for them in the Premiership, joins on a season-long basis as another defence-bolstering option.
New Bangor loan signing Ryley D'Sena pictured with Larne manager Tiernan Lynch on signing his first professional contract with the Inver Reds.
(Image from larnefc.com).
It has been an enterprising start to the window, with a lot to be excited about already and more expected.
Contractually, it has been a similar story. If it is experience Feeney desires, then he could not have received much better news than the evergreen and ever-popular Michael Halliday deciding to continue his Bangor adventure for another season. Still very able as a focal-point from the start or off the bench, the Oval hero and consummate professional servant to Bangor will put his qualities to use and keep offering a continued goalscoring dimension, with his predatory instincts in and around the penalty area.
Gareth Beattie’s renewal is also a sure boost for this same reason of keeping those among the core who have been there and done that. A fullback with attacking tendencies and who ably gets on the blind side of opponents to attack the far-post.
Likewise in midfield, all of club captain and team of the season representative Lewis Harrison, Dylan O’Kane and Karl Devine have renewed. Between them, an abundance of defensive steel and stamina to get around the pitch game by game is offered, and this is vital to keeping the structure from back to front. Ethan Boylan, chomping at the bit for a full season of football after a lengthy injury absence, has also opted to stay while willing runner and ball-carrier Jamie Glover will also remain a Seasider for the campaign to come.
Add that to an encouraging generation of youth prospects, many of whom appear first-team ready with Feeney talking about how key he views a clear pathway between the various sectors of the club, and there should be no shortage of quality depth to call upon.
With accolades handed out to Finn Moffett, Tim Millar-Wilson and Callum Mills on awards night, they are ones to keep an eye out for in pre-season and beyond.
Meanwhile, Jack Wasson, Mark Cooling, Jack Upritchard and Zac Fletcher will move onto pastures new, and they warrant Bangor’s best wishes for their dedicated service and efforts.
All four contributed to the more fluid rotation-based parts of Feeney’s system, with technique and instinct shown in different measures to make a meaningful mark in a wide range of different stages and situations.
Talking now about the fixture forthcoming, it is an historic club at the junior and intermediate level in Sirocco Works to face first, and a strong early test for the next phase of Bangor’s vision. Playing in Division 1A of the Northern Amateur Football League, the same division as Millisle’s Abbey Villa who donned a hard-hit 5-1 defeat on the Seasiders last pre-season, their expectation will be to go out and give a statement display. From the east side of Belfast, their traditional links hark back to industries of rope and tea, but are well-known in this age for a long-stretching and unbroken association with the Amateur League that is now not a great deal far from a full century.
It will be satisfying to see football played at Clandeboye Park again. This Thursday at 8pm when the ball is played off the centre circle and the link-ups restart, it will feel like a wait is over.
This season promises a lot for Bangor. It isn't worth missing for the world.
(Posted: 28th June 2022)