By Rory McKee
ARDS boss John Bailie had plenty of reasons to be positive after watching his side collect maximum points for a second weekend running.
Speaking to the Chronicle after their 2-1 win over Harland and Wolff Welders, Bailie admitted he’d started to wonder if the catalogue of missed chances would ‘come back to bite’ his team, but was delighted with the way in which Ards responded.
“Based on the number of chances we had in the game, we could have won it by six or seven,” he said.
“People will talk about the Welders’ high line, but that is how they play and we worked hard during the week to look at their strengths and their weaknesses and I thought we never really looked under a great deal of pressure.
“They caused us a few issues in the first half and then changed their shape in the second half, going with one less in midfield which allowed us to get Eamon Scannell more on the ball.
“Some of the play we had at that point was as good as I’ve seen since coming back to the club,“ he added.
“It was disappointing to concede, but the response was pleasing and we could have scored more.”
Bailie confirmed that striker Zach Barr was withdrawn at the Blanchflower Stadium due a hamstring problem, which could leave Ards with just one recognised senior striker for this weekend’s trip to Warrenpoint Town.
“We don’t have a bucket load of options in that area. We tried really hard in the last days of the window to address that but we fell short, so we are where we are,” he said.
But Bailie was full of praise for the impact of his new signings on the squad in the early stages of the season. “I think all of the guys who came in during the summer have made a big difference to us.
“The two guys in the wide areas give us a lot of pace and energy and are chipping in with goals too. Paul Donnelly, as we’ve spoken about, has got goals in him and Steven Gordon is like the glue in the team.
“Steven gives us a platform to build from and seems to be getting fitter and stronger every week. You need players that hold everything together and allow your sparks to create and score goals. Without players like Steven and Ryan Arthur, none of that happens.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s trip to south Down, Bailie concluded: “There’s no question that confidence is high, but it’ll be a difficult game and on a difficult pitch no doubt.
“Caolan Loughran is suspended and we’ll have to see how Zach Barr is. Michael Ruddy and Ciaran Dobbin should be back available, so we’ll count the bodies and go from there.”
