Derby Delight!

Ballymena, as predicted in Sky Blue Sport, fielded a vastly changed defensive formation. Out went goalkeeper McFrederick, with back-up man Stuart Addis taking over. While last years player of the year, Kieran Donaghy was also dropped, with central defender Albert Watson taking over in an unfamiliar rightback role. Gordon Simms and Gary Haveron formed a new central defensive formation and only Craig McClean retained his regular slot in the defence at leftback. Gerard Rowe got the wide right position in midfield, which left Scatesy on the bench, with Paul Brown and Boydie. The rest of the team were on fairly familiar lines, with Sweeney and Aiden Watson forming a new central midfield pairing. Despite losing the toss, United were asked to face the Summerfield end in the first half, which is their usual choice anyway. They could and should’ve made the visitors pay dearly for this gaffe as they missed three sitters in the first ten minutes. After winning the ball in midfield two minutes into the game, the ball was swept wide to Hamill and his low pass found Sweeney unmarked at the far post. Sweeney somehow managed to drive the ball against Scum keeper, fat Davy O’Hare and the ball rebounded to Stuarty King and he in turn drove the ball into the grateful keeper’s arms. Five minutes later Haveron headed an in-swinging corner from Rowe past the post, with the visitors defence at sixes and sevens and then a minute later, Sweeney shot over from 15 yards after a great run and pass from McClean left him clear on goal. United fans were anxious to see how Stuart Addis would perform and when Coleraine took a long throw from the spot where the United defence committed a real horlicks against Portadown last week, the debutant keeper allayed their fears when he came and punched the ball to safety. The home team seemed to lose their way a bit after their early pressure and the visitors began to look a little more menacing. United midfielder Aiden Watson was getting some rough treatment and even though referee Mark Courtenay gave fouls in his favour, I thought a couple of yellow cards would’ve been more appropriate. Coleraine keeper Davey O’Hare was taking an eternity with his goalkicks but the referee seemed oblivious to his time-wasting tactics. The United defence had a real let-off when Simms tangled with a Coleraine attacker, who it must be said went down rather easily, but the referee allowed play to continue and Addis made a good save to spare big Gordon’s blushes. The keeper came to United’s rescue once more, saving with his legs when a Coleraine forward burst through, when both Simms and Haveron were indecisive. Kelbie then missed a chance at the other end, when he went down under a challenge, but the referee waved play on. Coleraine had the ball in the United net after 33 minutes, but the goal was rightly disallowed for offside. Halftime was reached with the score still locked at 0-0 and it was hard to see where the goals were going to come from.

United centred the ball for the start of the second half and Aiden Watson sent a long punt down to the corner flag where it went out for a Coleraine throw. I was totally amazed at where the linesman allowed this throw in to be taken from, as he allowed the Scum defender to ‘steal’ at least ten yards. United recovered the ball and then won a free kick for a foul on Kelbie, with referee Courtenay finally losing patience and booking the culprit. Stuarty King, whose free kicks are generally poor, either too long or not high enough to get over the first man, actually produced a good one for a change. Stuarty’s free was nodded on by Sweeney, to the alert Kelbie, who from a seemingly impossible angle hit a screaming left foot strike past a helpless ‘Fat Davy’, O’Hare. Kelbie’s celebration was a delight to behold and hopefully United fans will be seeing a lot more of them over the next two seasons at least. This goal gave the game a real lift and United began slowly turning the ‘screw’ on their Derby rivals. This proved too much for Coleraine man Stuart Clanachan, who was lucky to stay on the field after a ‘leg break’ tackle on Aiden Watson. At this stage United were threatening to over-run the Coleraine Scum, but as usual let them off the hook. Coleraine for their part were reduced to punting long hopeful balls which the United defence dealt with fairly capably. Gerry Rowe missed a glorious chance to make the game safe, when after a delightful move involving Sweeney and Kelbie, he found himself one on one with Fat Davy. To the dismay of the United fans he attempted a lob which sailed harmlessly over the bar, a great chance missed. Rory Hamill was a tireless worker for the sky Blues and he just failed to get to a Kelbie flick, which was headed for a corner. Only referee Courtenay knows why firstly Paul Gaston wasn’t red carded when he clearly lifted his hands to Kelbie and then Clanachan blatantly pulled the same player back as he sprinted past him, surely a second booking which would have meant automatic dismissal. Kelbie was unlucky not to notch his second when Fat Davy pulled off a good save from a vicious left foot shot. United manager Tommy Wright took off Rory Hamill, bringing on Paul Brown and Rory got a huge ovation from the home fans. Big Paul was into action quite early, but unfortunately his shot sailed over the bar. With ten minutes remaining manager Wright took off Gerry Rowe, with Scatesy taking over, surely now I thought we’ll put the game beyond doubt, but we still couldn’t find that telling pass. Aiden Watson always seemed to be in space for United and began most of their counter attacks, while Craig McClean and Stuarty king worked well together on the left flank. There was always that nagging doubt that the ‘Scum’ would snatch an undeserved equaliser. Stuart Addis proved his worth to United with a good save low down to his left, was that Coleraine’s last chance I thought. But no there was another sting in the tail, when a Coleraine sub found himself through on goal but fortunately from a United point of view, the post came to their rescue, with Addis beaten. Referee Courtenay prolonged the agony for United fans, by finding four minutes of stoppage time and United chose to spend some of it by time-wasting at the corner flag, much to my chagrin. Surely it would’ve been much better to have tried to get a goal to make the game safe, but referee Courtenay brought the game to a close and United had done the double over their derby rivals, it doesn’t get much better than that now, does it?


Addis               7          Hamill               8     MoM:  Kelbie

Albert Watson          7          Sweeney          7

McClean          7          Kelbie               8

Aiden Watson          8          King               7     Referee:  M. Courtenay     4

Simms               7          1st Sub: Brown     7

Haveron          7          2nd Sub: Scates     7

Rowe               6