Captain Marvel!

Ballymena United stretched their unbeaten run to eight games after this narrow but convincing victory today. United won by the odd goal in five, but both Loughgall goals could and should’ve been prevented. United showed two changes from the victorious side that crushed near neighbours Larne last Wednesday night in the County Antrim Shield semi-final. Albert Watson was missing with a broken nose, with Gordon Simms taking his place, while Gareth Scates was rested with new signing Gerald Rowe taking over the wide right position. As predicted in Sky Blue Sport, Rory Hamill and new signing Paul Brown were on the bench, alongside Englishman Phil Charnock. United were looking somewhat jaded and it was fully 15 minutes before they threatened the visitors goal, the inform Kevin Kelbie forcing visiting keeper Marc Robbins to push his fierce shot for a corner. From the resultant corner the keeper punched the ball to safety, under pressure from Kelbie and Gary Haveron. Little was seen of the visitors in attack, although they did expose United’s naïve marking on a couple of set-pieces. Surely this is something that the United coaching staff needs to work on with keeper Willie McFrederick, as it’s his task to organise his defence at set-pieces. After 27 minutes Kelbie once more got on the end of a Haveron pass and forced the visiting keeper to push his shot for a corner. When the cross came over it was partially cleared to Haveron on the edge of the ‘D’ and he attempted to play a one two with Sweeney but had his legs clipped from under him. The referee immediately gave the free kick, paced out the ‘10’ yards which looked more like ‘7’ and signalled for the kick to be taken. True to form, United Captain Gary Smyth bent his left foot shot round the wall and into the corner of the net to give the Sky Blues the lead. United had their tails up now and began stroking the ball about with a bit more confidence. Right winger Rowe was starting to find his feet and his pass was intercepted at the last moment by a visiting defender, when it looked destined for the alert Kelbie. United’s Gary Haveron was cautioned by referee Hugh Carville for what can best be described as an innocuous foul, as Loughgall attempted to get back into the game. United spurned two good chances to stretch their lead, courtesy of lapses by Loughgall keeper Marc Robinson. Firstly he raced off his line to intercept as Stuart King chased a through pass, but instead of doing the simple thing and ‘hoofing’ the ball into the stand, he tried to clear it upfield. The ball fell to United leftback Craig McClean, but with the keeper stranded he completely ‘fluffed’ his shot and the visitors defence cleared the danger. Five minutes later he once more cleared the ball to centre midfield where it fell to Rowe and his shot from 45 yards shaved the keeper’s left-hand post with him attempting to scramble back to goal. In between these two chances Loughgall were presented with a great chance when from a corner kick a free header failed to find the target. At the other end Vinny Sweeney received a through pass from Kelbie to leave him one on one with the keeper but shot over the bar from 25 yards. With the first half drawing to a close Gary Smyth was shepherding the ball into touch near his own by-line, but allowed a Loughgall forward to get between him and the ball and the player was then adjudged to have been fouled by Kieran Donaghy, who had gone to help his Captain clear the danger. From the resultant free the visitors had yet another free header which Willie McFrederick managed to keep out with his knees, but the rebound was hammered into the roof of the net to level the scores. This equaliser came so deep into stoppage time that United hadn’t even time to restart the game before referee Carville’s whistle sounded.

United came out early for the second period, never a good sign in my book, as I think it makes a team look nervous. They did seem to be a bit more anxious to get on with it and gave an example right from the kick-off. Winger Rowe chased Gary Haveron’s deep pass and as he and the visitor’s leftback collided as the ball went into touch, the referee somehow concluded that it was a foul, yet how could it be as they were both just chasing the ball. United kept probing away although it was hard to see where the breakthrough was going to come from and manager Wright was urging his subs to get ‘warmed’ up. Fourteen minutes into the half United won a corner and as the ball came over Gary Haveron challenged for it and the ball broke to United Captain Gary Smyth who volleyed the ball into the net from 15 yards, a real ‘classy’ goal from a real ‘classy’ player. United were really up for it now and Rowe was beginning to find his feet, linking well down the right with Donaghy and Kelbie. From one such move United’s top scorer Sweeney failed to find the target when Kelbie set the ball on his head with a left foot cross from the right wing, a bad miss to say the least. The United manager was forced to make his first change here with Aiden Watson limping off to be replaced by Phil Charnock. Gerald Rowe became the second United player to be booked for a late challenge and then Kevin Kelbie ‘foolishly’ got himself booked when after losing possession he recklessly fouled a visiting player, when there was nothing to be gained with the tackle. With 12 minutes remaining and the visitors pushing up, Rowe picked up the ball just inside his own half and found Kelbie with a perfect pass. The ‘Flying’ Scotsman sped goalwards with the visiting keeper hastily retreating. As he neared the penalty box Kelbie shot and the keeper managed to block it, but Kelbie swept the rebound into the net to extend United’s lead to 3-1. Tommy Wright brought on Hamill and Paul Brown for Kelbie and Rowe with ten minutes left on the clock. Brown almost had a dream debut when he got on the end of a deep Hamill cross only to find the side-netting. With the game deep into injury time Willie McFrederick dropped an easy catch and allowed the visitors a gift consolation goal. This was the United keeper’s only real lapse today, but it could be costly with Stuart Addis waiting in the wings. The referee brought the game to a halt almost immediately much to the relief of the Sky Blue faithful who were beginning to think they were going to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory. The two Loughgall goals not only came from defensive errors today, they also came right at the end of both halves and this shows a distinct lack of professionalism in my mind. As the old saying goes ‘it ain’t over, till the fat lady sings’!

McFrederick 6 Aiden Watson 7 Mom: Smyth

Donaghy 7 Sweeney 6

McClean 7 Kelbie 8

Haveron 7 King 6 Referee: H. Carville 3

Simms 7 1st Sub: Charnock 7

Smyth 8 2nd Sub: Hamill 7

Rowe 7 3rd Sub: Brown 7