Bangor not looking at league table just yet as Seasiders stun Coleraine to move into Premiership top-six
Bangor assistant manager John Douglas pin-pointed “character and attitude” as the main reasons for their eye-catching win against Coleraine at Clandeboye Park.
The Seasiders continued their impressive start back in the top-flight as two first-half goals saw off Coleraine on home soil.
A header from Jay Boyd gave Bangor the lead and they strengthened their grip on the contest two minutes before the break when Ben Arthurs netted his 160th goal for the club.
However, they had to do things the hard way after losing Harry Lynch to a red card for a second bookable offence just two minutes after the restart, with Coleraine then making their numerical advantage count as Zane Okoro halved the arrears with a clinical finish.
Bangor had to be resolute for the last 35 minutes as Coleraine kept coming forward with chance after chance going abegging for Ruaidhri Higgins’ men.
But they managed to hang on and move into the top-six of the Premiership standings in the process.
"Well, we're not looking at the league just yet,” Douglas said. “It's just one game at a time, the old cliche.
“I thought from start to finish we were super.
"Obviously I think the sending off was a bit harsh.
"It made it difficult for us…but the character and attitude from the boys was top class.
"We were super and that's a performance we are capable of.
"We played against the wind and I thought two smashing goals, especially the second one where Ben timed his run to perfection and Tiernan Mulvenna put a great ball over the top.
"But Ben all day today was causing him all sorts of problems and I thought we got the rewards in the first half by leading 2-0.”
Lynch’s dismissal meant it was backs firmly to the wall for the Bangor squad in the second half – but Douglas says the squad enjoy battling for each other as they managed to limit Coleraine to only one second-half goal.
He stated: "They enjoyed it. The boys, you could see, they were up against it the last 35 minutes of the game.
"A man down...they all had role responsibilities and carried them out.
"A lot of happy players in there at the minute.
"There's one thing about them, they've got character in abundance in them.
"When their backs are against the wall, they stand up to be the counted.
"And I thought every single player done their part today...a great result.”
Bangor elected to play two upfront for the visit of the Bannsiders as Messrs Boyd and Arthurs led the line to devastating effect.
Douglas is hoping that their partnership can continue to flourish as they face Lisburn Distillery in the BetMcLean Cup on Tuesday night and then Glenavon in Premiership duty next Saturday.
"Jay a good foil for Ben,” he continued. “The two of them, their games complement each other and I thought Jay was just immense.
"He obviously hasn't played much football this season and he ran out of steam early in the second half, so we had to make a change.”