Championship star hails 'outrageous' summer signing that has 'already made a big difference' after starring role in nine-goal thriller

Ferguson has undoubtedly been the second-tier’s premier marksman over recent seasons, netting 69 times in 88 matches across his last three full campaigns at H&W Welders before joining Lee Feeney’s side ahead of the current term as they look to take another step towards fulfilling their Premiership dream.

The 28-year-old opened the scoring after only five minutes at the Showgrounds and netted again to make it 3-3 after Dualta Honney’s brace and a Fra McCaffrey strike had put Newry ahead.

Feeney’s men restored their lead through Kyle Owens, but there’d be further drama as Adam Carroll levelled proceedings once again before substitute Cushnie delivered the decisive blow to help Bangor bounce back from last weekend’s defeat to Limavady United.

Ferguson has added extra firepower to an attacking force that already included the likes of Ben Arthurs, who scored 18 league goals last season, and ex-Glentoran youngster Cushine predicts “teams are going to find us very hard to stop” as they continue to gel.

“Spike’s (Ferguson) been outrageous since he’s come in, he’s already made a big difference,” Cushnie told the club’s website. “I’m sure Big Ben (Arthurs) will hit form and catch up to him as well, you’ve Scotty (McArthur) and Tom (Mathieson) who’ve still to hit form and Lee’s (Rea) obviously come in as well.

"It’s healthy competition and we all believe we have a big part to play as the season goes on. Everyone’s kind of chipping in from across the pitch, and there was a bit of that last season as well with obviously big Lewis (Francis) who scored a lot of goals.

“You don’t win a league with 11 players, it’s not just the 11 players starting. You have to have competition and depth, and I think we are still gelling as a group, we’ve not played as a team with the new players coming in that much, but when it all comes together, I think other teams are going to find us very hard to stop.

“If you think back to pre-season, a lot of it was sort of 45 minutes on, 45 minutes off with two different teams and things like that, but we’re gelling together as a group with every game and we’re getting to know each other. Hopefully, that’s our confidence back up and we can go on a run over the next few weeks.”

Elsewhere in the Championship, Armagh City, who were the only unbeaten team remaining in Northern Ireland’s second-tier, suffered their first defeat as Limavady United continued an impressive start to life back in the division – John Butcher, Ian Parkhill and Lewis Tosh all scored in a 3-0 victory that keeps them level on points with leaders H&W Welders.

The Welders were also victorious with Tiarnan O’Connor’s brace cancelling out Ryan Swan’s early strike in their 2-1 win against Annagh United.

Meanwhile, Michael McLellan scored his fifth league goal in six appearances for Dundela in their 1-0 success over Ards while Ballinamallard United celebrated a second win of the season by beating Newington 4-1.

Institute remain rooted to the bottom of the table after they were defeated 3-1 at home by Ballyclare Comrades with Brian Healy netting a second-half brace.