THE success enjoyed so far by runaway Playr-Fit Championship leaders Bangor is down to experience, according to Seasiders boss Lee Feeney.
Bangor – nine points clear of closest challengers Limavady – make the short hop to Blanchflower Stadium on Saturday (3pm) to tackle third-placed Welders, 11 points off the summit but with a game in hand.
Limavady are at Bangor’s Clandeboye Park on Friday night – to face Ards – while on the same evening Newry City welcome Dundela and Institute face Armagh City at the Brandywell (all 7.45pm). Saturday’s other matches (all 3pm) see Annagh United take on Ballyclare Comrades at the BMG Arena and Newington hosting Ballinamallard at Larne’s Inver Park.
“We have plenty of experience of this league plus we have brought in experienced players, the likes of Robbie Garrett,” said former Linfield and Rangers star Feeney.
“He’s a top pro, an absolute pleasure to work with, and he’s thought really highly of the dressing room.
“He’s added a lot to our midfield this season, lots of experience, he’s done it at the highest level and he’s been brilliant since he came in,” added Feeney of the much-travelled 36-year-old.
“This season, we’re getting maybe four or five colossal performances in each of our wins and individuals we can single out who are putting in really big shifts every week.
“Last season, we had a really good team, we were winning games as a team – and it’s the same this season, though I think we’re getting more of those colossal performances now.
“That’s driving this winning run – right now, there are players who are pulling their weight all over the pitch, we’ve got some big wins and we’re matching those with big performances – and long may that continue.
“We were a bit concerned earlier in the season about some of the goals we were conceding, but there’s been a big improvement recently, we’re keeping clean sheets.
“It’s a solid foundation having a strong defence and we’ve looked really solid at the back in the last few games.
“We had one of the best defensive records in the league last season, that’s an area we pride ourselves in and it was disappointing that we were probably giving away cheap goals earlier on, but we’ve looked much better in that area since then.
“Up at the other end, everyone’s chipping in.
“We talk about it obviously with Ben (Arthurs) and Spike (Matthew Ferguson), we know what we can expect from them, but we talk about other players getting involved too, everybody contributing . We want the full team to chip in as much as they can and we encourage players to get forward.
“At the start of the season, we were creating chances in games but we weren’t being clinical enough with them, but with this run (10 wins in 11 league matches), we have been clinical and we’re winning games because of that.”