Roeside Regrets!

After playing 16 league games without a draw, United are certainly making up for lost time with five draws in their last nine league games. Drawing their last three has actually moved them into joint fourth with Dungannon Swifts, but with a vastly inferior goal difference, which should’ve been vastly improved in the first half yesterday. The United manager gave a starting place to the out of favour Rory Hamill up front alongside Paul Brown, but dropped Gerard Rowe giving leading scorer Vinny Sweeney a start in midfield against his old club. Ballymena’s kick-offs are the brunt of jokes among the fans as they usually entail Gary Haveron booting the ball out of play in a vain attempt to reach a United player wide on the right. Surprisingly yesterday it almost paid off when the Limavady fullback made a ‘hash’ of an easy clearance and Paul Brown took the ball off him and homed in on goal, but his mis-hit shot was easily dealt with by home keeper Michael Dougherty. Two minutes later United spurned an even easier chance when Rory Hamill found himself in the clear, took the ball round the keeper and then somehow failed to find the target with the goal gaping. United spurned another glorious chance when Sweeney shot tamely at the keeper from 15 yards out. Limavady began to come more into the game and Willie McFrederick could be heard shouting to his defenders not to play the ball back to him. As I was standing quite close to the dugouts I heard the United manager saying to his colleagues, ‘Why’s he shouting that?’ I felt like asking him that seeing as he’s been shouting that all season, why are you querying it only now? For once though Willie did everything else well enough and can’t take any blame for some slipshod defending by United in general and Albert Watson in particular. Ballymena then missed another glorious opening when nobody could get on the end of a superb Stuarty King in-swinging corner, which actually bounced inside their six-yard box. I had just started to think it was going to be one of them days when United finally got their noses in front. Rory Hamill was fed through after a delightful pass from Paul Brown and this time he cheekily chipped the advancing keeper to put United one up. Limavady stepped up the pace a bit and Albert Watson and Gary Smyth each gave away needless free kicks, by attempting to go for balls they could never reach, but luckily they came to nothing. From the first one on the edge of the box on the left, their number three drove it well over the bar and then from their second on the opposite side it deflected off the United wall, before going out for a throw-in. The lineswoman at that side gave the throw to the visitors, but after home manager Paul Kee remonstrated with the referee, he overruled that decision. This was to prove the first of many decisions called for by the home manager, with which referee Weatherup was only too eager to comply. Luckily for United nothing came from this change and they went into the break leading by a goal to nil, but it should’ve been a whole lot more.

Two minutes into the half the visitors were made to pay for their missed chances, when after Albert Watson was adjudged to have fouled home striker Parkhorse, their number three got his range perfect, leaving visiting keeper McFrederick grasping at thin air with a superbly struck free kick, to level the scores at one apiece. United had made a change at the interval with Boydie replacing McClean at leftback and the United veteran looked a bit ‘rusty’ as he struggled to get to grips with the game. United’s Rory Hamill attempted an overhead kick as the ball was going out of play near the halfway line, but unbeknown to him a home defender was coming in behind him to head the ball and Hamill accidentally hit him on the nose. The home dugout was up in arms with their manager claiming that the player’s jaw was broken, but the referee said it was an accidental challenge and then somewhat surprisingly showed Hamill the yellow card. I found this somewhat surprising as two minutes earlier Hamill had been head-butted by a home defender in the box and pushed by goalkeeper Dougherty, yet the referee had taken no action at all. The Limavady player had not broken his jaw and in fact at worst had sustained a broken nose, but I think the referee was influenced by the ravings of the home manager. The visitors went in search of another goal but found home keeper Dougherty in superb form as he commanded his box with some good handling. Scates missed a glorious chance when King found him free on the right but he shot miles wide when it looked easier to find the target. In a rare attack by the home side McFrederick distinguished himself with a good save at the expense of a corner. United got their noses in front when from a partially cleared corner, Sweeney headed the ball in and Paul Brown nodded it into Hamill’s path and he notched his and United’s second with a low shot into the corner giving Dougherty no chance. That was in the 71st minute and the visitors lead lasted barely two minutes when diminutive strike Austin Friel shrugged off the attentions of Albert Watson to thump the ball past McFrederick and into the corner of the net and leave the match all square. United ‘huffed and puffed’ during the remainder of the match but couldn’t find the vital touch to get the winner although it appeared during one attack that a home player handled the ball near the goal-line. The United manager substituted Scates with Rowe taking his place but he made little difference and then had to take off a limping Paul Brown with the fit again Aiden Watson taking his place. United had once again failed to deliver the goods in what their manager has termed the second of eight finals and all I can say is that on this and last Saturday’s showing, we’ve got a long way to go yet, before we can start winning finals!


McFrederick 6 Hamill 7 MoM: Hamill

Donaghy 6 Brown 7

McClean 6 Sweeney 7

Haveron 6 King 7 Referee: S. Weatherup 3

Albert Watson 5 1st Sub: Boydie 5

Smyth 7 2nd Sub: Rowe 5

Scates 5 3rd Sub: Aiden Watson 6