Wakehurst hope return of Gregg can boost survival bid

Conor Gregg's return is a boost for Wakehurst in their bid to avoid relegation from Championship Two.

The former Ballymena United striker is back with Wakehurst after a spell with Championship Two rivals Moyola Park.

And Gregg wasted no time in settling back in, with a goal in his first appearance back in the black and white stripes at the weekend.

However, it wasn’t enough to prevent a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Banbridge Town - a result which does Wakehurst no favours in their attempts to avoid finishing in the relegation placings.

“We’re delighted to get Conor back on board,” Stevenson told Times Sport.

“He will make a big difference to us not only in terms of his quality, his eye for goal and his experience but he has also demonstrated leadership qualities which will be important to us in our present situation.

“It has given the rest of the boys a lift to have a player of Conor’s quality back at the club, especially at a time when we were really looking for another striker.”

On Saturday’s game Stevenson said: “We were very encouraged by a very disciplined, energetic performance in what was a decent game.

“We took the lead with about 25 minutes to go but we defended what we had and I thought we looked a wee bit tired in the closing stages.

“Banbridge had made quite a few changes since we played them down there before Christmas and they had former Irish League players like Chris Kingsberry and Stuart King in their side,” added Stevenson.

Wakehurst had belied their lowly position as they twice hit the woodwork through Gregg and Karl Steele and it looked as though the Ballymena men might be on course for only their second league win of the campaign when Gregg raced through in a one-on-one with the keeper and produced a typically assured finish.

But Banbridge levelled five minutes later and went on to score the winner with eight minutes left.

Wakehurst: Cairns, Millar, Swan, Steele, McCartney, L McCaughern, McClelland, Laughlin, Lemon (sub Ross), Young, Gregg. Subs (not used): Armstrong, C McCaughern, Price, Alexander.

Wakehurst were due to play in the next round of the Intermediate Cup this Saturday but they have to wait to find out their opponents as Donegal Celtic and Portstewart’s meeting was postponed and the tie now switches to this Saturday.

At the time of going to press it was unclear whether Wakehurst would have a Championship Two tie rescheduled for this weekend.