Speaking after the game, Bay’s assistant manager Liam McIvor was delighted with the opening day 2-0 victory over a hard working Penrith side at Hillheads.
“Yes, we’re over the moon, three points and that’s all that matters in the first game of the season, Everyone’s fitness levels are very good at the start of the season when we’ve had six weeks pre- season.
“It’s that time of the year when we’ve got people on holiday and we’ve picked up a couple of bad injuries if I’m honest, which has given us a stretched squad. We had 16 there today though and they’ve all done well.”
Harvey Neary, who scored both of the goals, was just back from holiday so missed training during the week. Liam was especially pleased with his performance, which earned him the man of the match award. “Harvey had a great game. I spoke to him yesterday and let him know what the plan was for today so he was focussed before we got out there. He’s done very well, his fitness levels are great. He’s a problem in their third and it was two good goals today.”
There were four summer signings involved in the game and Liam commented “we got some good players in to make us a strong 16, which is a bit different to last year. We had a good 11, 12 but we look a lot stronger this year.”
Along with many visiting clubs during pre-season , Liam was full of praise for the pitch and the work of the groundstaff. “It s wonderful, I was talking to Davey Styles before the game, they’ve done a great job with the pitch, it’s fantastic! There’s no excuses if you can’t play football on that. Dave works tirelessly. People don’t see that the work that people put in on the pitch. Credit to him and Jay because the pitch is in great condition.”
