More new faces as Wakehurst strengthen panel

Former Ballymoney United captain Lee McClelland has joined the Ballymena side, along with Diarmuid Larkin, who was previously with Moyola Park and they will add considerable experience of playing at Championship level.

Wakehurst got two more games under their belts last week, the first a 4-1 win over Raceview.

Another new face, Karl Steele - a no-nonsense centre-back, who previously captained Coleraine Reserves - put Wakehurst ahead in the first half and they added three more goals after the break from Conor McKenna, John Alexander and Jordan Foster.

They followed that up with an impressive showing on Saturday when they drew 1-1 with a strong Ballymena United Reserves team - featuring seven of Glenn Ferguson’s first team panel - at Mill Meadow.

New signing Mark Mckelvey continued his promising pre-season form by heading Wakehurst in front with a quarter of an hour to go before Leroy Millar forced a late equaliser for United.

“I was particularly pleased with our performance as again Neil Candlish and Stephen McKelvey have worked on shape, possession and movement during training and it came to fruition.

“From a management point of view, we have set the bar with this performance and I will be asking the players can they deliver this week in week out when the season starts.

“Diarmuid Larkin put pen to paper after the game - he is a technically gifted central midfielder, who will add further quality to the squad,” added Muir, whose side kicks off their season at Portstewart on August 8.