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Bangor waiting game over but Lee Feeney still rolling back the clock for future returns Having had to wait an extra week to kick off the Irish League season, Bangor boss Lee Feeney will be hoping time is on his side this weekend – even if a plan for Premiership survival will be built on rolling back the clock. Larne’s European commitments led to Feeney’s Seasiders sitting on the sidelines as rivals launched a fresh domestic campaign – kicked off last Friday by Cliftonville’s convincing win at home to Crusaders. One interested observer in Cliftonville’s progress has been Feeney in preparation for the Reds’ visit today that gives Bangor a first taste of life sharing the top-flight stage for a second season. "Pros and cons with it,” accepted Feeney of the enforced delay. “A few boys maybe picked up a few niggles in pre-season and got an extra week's recovery, we also were able to look at other teams before we get playing. "But the other side of it is Cliftonville will have a game under their belt, they'll be that bit sharp where they've got a good first game out of the way, a good result...so they'll be going in with a spring in their step." For Feeney, having helped to mastermind Bangor’s rise from the ranks up the divisions , his focus is as much on a 38-game season than Saturday’s opening challenge. With safety secure from a debut Premiership campaign, now Feeney is searching for ways to protect that position across the current season – with the Bangor boss keen to transfer past lessons into future gains. "I think the boys did well last year in the Premiership...boys that came from the Ballymena League to the PIL to the Championship and then straight to the Premiership and they've handled it really, really well,” said Feeney. "Some of them had never really played before in a Premiership, so that's a positive...a wee bit more belief about ourselves. "The stuff you want to improve on...it's hard just to turn on a light switch and have it happen, but there's loads of things we try and we know we need to be better than we were last season. "I think now as managers and players we realise how ruthless it is, and if you're not ruthless in both boxes you'll definitely get punished. "There's definitely more quality in the Premiership and the players that's in it now, they can not kick a ball the whole game and just get one touch and score. "Your focus and concentration, for a defender especially, it needs to be better. "You're always learning...every game you learn but you always like to look back at the season and reflect and I think one of the biggest things for us was probably we didn't have depth. "Maybe the players I mentioned that hadn't really played Premiership before, I've expected them to play 38 games...so mentally they were drained and they picked up niggles and we didn't have the depth of the bench to come in and make changes and freshen things up. "No games, I think, where we were losing and would come back and win...so that's something we looked at, the depth. "In the last couple of months of last season it became a bit tougher for them because they weren't used to it. "I think that's something we've improved on and we will improve on...being able to keep that focus and concentration for 90 minutes over 38 games.”