Iestyn Hughes struck inside three minutes to give Lee Feeney's side the perfect platform as they controlled much of the first half without finding the second goal their dominance threatened.

That kept Crusaders in the game, and the visitors finally stirred late on before Lloyd Anderson had what they thought was an equaliser ruled out for offside.

Victory secured the hosts only their third league win of the season, while the visitors missed the chance to climb into the top six.

Seasiders withstand late Crues pressure

The home side made the perfect start inside three minutes as Hughes drove down the right and combined with Caomhan McGuinness before Lewis Harrison laid the resulting cross into his path for the winger to pick out the far bottom corner.

With the hosts firmly on top, Harrison threatened to quickly add a second when the winger met Steven McCullough's corner minutes later but could not keep his header down.

The Seasiders should have given themselves breathing room just before the half-hour as Tiarnan Mulvenna picked out Reece Neale at the back post, only for the defender to volley well off target from close range.

Bangor continued to carry the greater threat after the break as McGuinness twisted and turned inside the penalty area before miskicking his shot into the path of Neale, whose first-time effort towards the far corner was comfortably read by Shea Callister.

But the Seasiders' failure to find a second left them vulnerable to a late response, with Elliott Dunlop finally testing Patrick Solis Grogan with a header that forced the goalkeeper to scramble across and palm the ball to safety.

That warning almost proved costly four minutes later as Anderson found the bottom corner following a scramble in the box, only for the offside flag to cut short the Crues' celebrations as the home side held on for three vital points in their battle to beat the drop.

What the managers said

"In this league, it is so ruthless and can punish you in the blink of an eye, so if you do not take your chances when you are on top, there is a possibility you can get punished. Thankfully we did not; we held in, defended well against a really dangerous team with so many good players, stuck to our task, and got the three points."

"It is not easy when you are a manager, and during the game it is not enjoyable, though it feels better after when you dig out results like this. They went down fighting, and credit to Declan for putting us under pressure in those last 10 minutes, but again we defended really well and dealt with it. We are in a good place and have been for seven or eight weeks, playing well and being unlucky, so we will look forward to Glentoran next and do our homework on them. All we want to do is try and be competitive in all the games we play."

"This is the last place you want to concede early because from then they defended well. We got a response at half-time and threw everything at them, but ultimately it was not enough. The damage was done, and you could see Bangor wanted it more."

"In the first 45 minutes, we did not win the battle, simple as that. It was one-nil at half-time, though it could have been more. In the second half we had loads of pressure in their final third, but ultimately did not create enough. Some of the decisions today for both teams were quite dodgy, but ultimately we were not good enough."