a day ago
Arthurs can be Irish League's 'number one striker'
Bangor and Ben Arthurs has been a match made in heaven for seven years, so it is little surprise the star striker agreed a three-year extension at Clandeboye 27-year-old netted his 158th career goal for the Seasiders in Sunday's 3-1 win over Cliftonville to get their return to the Irish Premiership off to a dream is second in the all-time scoring charts for the club behind the legendary Billy Bradford, who scored over 400 goals for the club, and although reaching that figure "is a bit ambitious", the striker's primary objective is to help Bangor become fully established back in the top tier."Scoring the goal to put us ahead against Cliftonville was a proud moment for me at a packed Clandeboye Park," Arthurs told BBC Sport NI's Mark Sidebottom."I've been here so long it really does mean something to me. Half my family is from Bangor, so there is a family feel to it."I signed a three-year deal and that will take me to 10 years of service. I don't plan on going anywhere, so I'm happy at Bangor."
Arthurs joined the club back when they plied their trade in the Ballymena & Provincial League and has played a key role in their rise up through the it is not just on the football pitch where his sporting prowess extends. In the coming weeks, the man spearheading Bangor's attack in the Irish Premiership will also line out for his local hurling club Ballycran in the Down now, and with the challenge of Glentoran at the Oval on Saturday [15:00 BST], Arthurs is out to prove wrong any who still doubt his ability to take his goalscoring talents up a level."I'm hoping to continue to prove it as there still are question marks," he acknowledged."I have good players around me, so I'm not picking the ball up on the halfway line and taking it myself, but when it does get into the right areas, I seem to get the job done and here's hoping that can continue."
'All the attributes to be league's top striker'
Bangor's assistant manager John Douglas has every faith Arthurs can become one of the league's top strikers this worked with the player since he arrived at the club, Douglas has watched him blossom and feels he can take the Premiership by storm this season."Every challenge we've put his way, he's come up trumps," said Douglas."He's got better and better as we've climbed the leagues and answered the critics."He's a very humble lad and the challenge this season is that Ben could be the number one striker in this league. He has all the attributes to become that."The next challenge ahead is Saturday's trip to face Glentoran at the won an Irish Cup quarter-final between the teams last season, but Douglas is expecting a different Glens this week."There are no easy games in this league and we will ensure we have a gameplan for Glentoran, just like we did against Cliftonville," he said."Hopefully we will continue with the upward trajectory and give a good account of ourselves."
