| Bangor's blip means the season's far from over |
| Sunday 09 January 2011 |
 DYLAN Ebenezer wonders if Bangor are better equipped than Newcastle to cope with the blip in their season - this article appears on Sgorio's website“I will love it if we beat them - love it” - Kevin Keegan, 1996 HANDS up who remembers Keegan's amazing rant? The Newcastle manager was responding to suggestions made by Sir Alex Ferguson that teams tried harder against Manchester Utd - than they did against the Geordies. But he was also showing the frustration of a manager who was watching a 12 point lead at the top of the Premiership slip away. They didn’t beat them. But we still love the raw emotion of his rant. Which bring us to Neville Powell! It’s far too early in the season for the Bangor manager to go into meltdown but he must be getting twitchy after seeing his side lose 2 games in a row. Prestatyn deserve huge credit for being the first team to beat the league leaders this season four days after giving them a run for their money at Farrar Road. The Seasiders have surged up to fourth and it should be no surprise that they claimed the scalp but it had been coming during a dodgy end to the year. Airbus were seconds away from victory and prior to that, Aberystwyth were fully deserving of a draw before Jamie Reed’s heroics kept the 100% record intact. The loss of Reed will obviously be a massive blow, he is the league’s top scorer having also hit 30 goals last season, but it surely won’t be a massive shock and Neville Powell will have been preparing for this day. He will also be prepared for this blip and certainly isn’t the type to start making any Keegan type speeches! The New Saints and Neath will be hoping that they can pile on the pressure – both have 3 games in hand and The Saints play Bangor before the season splits. The chasing pack will then get another two chances to take points off the league leaders - that of course is easier said than done. The New Saints haven’t been convincing on their travels and four of their next five games are away from Park Hall. Neath on the other hand will be at home for five of their last six games before the split, but have so far failed to beat the top two in the first part of the season. Can anybody else challenge? Despite their form you would think that Prestatyn are too far behind. Llanelli beat Bangor this week and have 5 games in hand but The Reds have surely left it too late, although Rhys Griffiths will be eyeing up another Golden Boot after finally hitting his 200th league goal especially with Jamie Reed leaving the league. Bangor have shown amazing character already this season and will be more than ready for the coming challenge. They are far from finished. The good news for all the neutrals is that this season is also far from finished. |