Ards haven’t shown their true quality in Championship yet, insists manager Matthew Tipton

Matthew Tipton's Ards will look to reignite their League campaign against Annagh United

Matthew Tipton has promised to tweak his tactics after his Ards team lost their first two games of the Playr-Fit Championship.

After a strong finish to last season, Tipton had hoped to challenge at the top of the table this term but defeats to Newington and Bangor have dampened expectations.

Today, the Red and Blues travel to the BMG Arena to play an Annagh United chasing their third win from three games.

Tipton — who signed several well-known players in the summer including his own son George, striker James McLaughlin and defender Michael Ruddy — is considering a change of formation for the Annagh clash.

He said: “I know that these players are good enough. Every player that we have brought to this club, we feel that they are good enough to be competitive in this League.

“But they haven’t shown that in the two performances so far. But we will work with the players to get the best out of them.

“From my point of view, I will look at the system and tweak things. We like to play a 4-3-3, but we’ve struggled against teams who play a 3-5-2, so that’s something we will look at.

“Against Annagh we need to be quicker and sharper and we must test the goalkeeper more than we did in the last two.

“We’re built to be free-flowing and be fluid. For a team that works hard on our forward play, we haven’t created enough chances in those first two games. We have an abundance of attacking talent, so there’s no excuse.”

Last Friday night, Ards lost 1-0 to Bangor in the first North Down Derby since 2016. Reflecting on the clash, that attracted 1,300 fans to Clandeboye Park, Tipton confessed his team produced a poor display.

He said: “It was a typical blood