"But to get a [competition] point out of that, we'll take it. We were always behind the eight ball.
"I feel that we're back to full strength."
Although having made himself an impact player off the bench in his previous outing against North End, a fine 1-0 win that seems a life time ago instead of 14 days, Bell will start up front , moving Kyle Graham-Luke to the midfield while squad regular Zane Robinson, back from Rarotonga, will perform the versatile reserve role.
This allows Dan Aplin and Max Davidson to keep their starting roles on the wings after both were key figures in the comeback against Rangers, creating opportunities and having a direct hand in several goals.
"We've just got to get back to how we played against North End," Bell said.
Joining Robinson on the bench is a familiar face in Matt McMurray, a former member of the old Wanganui United franchise who has returned to the district for farming.
"He's decided he wants to come back and play footy. First training this week and it was quite positive too," said Bell.
The team will miss their talented teenager Jack Donaldson, who would have had his first start after impressing off the bench in his first few outings, but is away making plans for his post-secondary school path.
Meanwhile, Athletic coach Jason King is also calling up players from his GJ Gardner Homes Wanganui Athletic Reserves team as he goes without five regulars to face the wild Rangers from the north on Sunday.
The Athletic vs Rangers rivalry has been keenly contested in recent seasons, but seemed like it would be a little quiet this year as Athletic (3-2-3) were playing themselves into some form while Rangers (1-1-6) had dropped off the pace.
That was until last week, with King taking note of the Taranaki team's willingness to live by the sword and die by it, as they never stopped attacking to try and protect their goal against City, even when up 6-4 in the last 10 minutes.
"That's a philosophy that I actually quite admire," said King.
"Football's a simple game – if we score one more goal than them, we win.
"You certainly don't die wondering."
While King is pleased to have Matt Calvert and Scott Burney, who as coaches of the Team Ritesh Football Whanganui team were successful in getting their Women's Federation League game moved back to Thursday, he is resting several other players with niggles.
Athletic will miss the likes of Ryan Holden, Will King and James Satherley, all goal scorers in the 4-2 win over Palmerston North Boys High, along with Peter Czerwonka.
King said most of them would have been 50-50 for the away match, but with Palmerston North Marist (6-0-2) looming on the horizon, he thought it best for them to rest up, using keen young players from the Reserve team, given Rangers seem likely to play a wide-open style anyway.
Rangers have well outscored Athletic this season — 20 League goals compared to 12 – yet they have conceded a whopping 31, compared to 13 from Athletic, who have tried to keep to their systems even when key figures are unavailable.
Both matches are 2.45pm kickoffs on both days.
In the Horizons Premiership, the Athletic Reserves (1-0-6) have a tough match tomorrow afternoon against the table leaders Levin AFC (5-2-0) at Wembley Park, kickoff 12.30pm.
