Rinsed Out!

Was this the ‘real’ Ballymena team who turned up for today’s game at Ballyskeagh, the home of Lisburn Distillery? Hopefully not, because if they turn in an insipid performance like this next Saturday then they’ll be out of the Irish cup for another season. With 2 changes from last Saturday’s starting line-up, Boydie dropped in favour of McClean and Gareth McConaghie taking over from Aaron Callaghan, who was on duty with the under-21s. United got off to the worst possible start when Paul Brown limped off after barely 2 minutes with a foot injury with Fitzy taking his place. United went behind after barely 8 minutes, when young Gareth McConaghie, allowed an innocuous cross to bounce and Andy Waterworth (once coveted by the Sky Blues), seized on the missed clearance and drilled the home team into the lead. Fitzy missed a glorious chance to bring the teams level when he beat the Whites keeper in a race for the ball but was unable to find the target from a difficult angle. Then at the other end Murphy made a good save after some heavy pressure from the home side. Half an hour into the game disaster struck once more for the Sky Blues, when McConaghie appeared to go over on his ankle and had to be substituted, with Aiden Watson coming on in centre midfield. This in turn meant that Scates moved to rightback and Lowry onto the wing. Four minutes from halftime the visitors were thrown a lifeline, when after the ball appeared to come off a United attacker last the referee awarded the visitors a corner. As the ball was driven in by Lowry the home keeper just waved at it and then it fell to Kevin Kelbie at the far post and he drove a shot past the stranded keeper. United managed to hold out until halftime and in fact had probably there best period in the game at this stage.

Three minutes into the second period Paul Murphy handed the home team the points on a plate, when he allowed a 35 yard punt from Darren Armour to go through his legs into the net. The fact that this setback didn’t rouse United from their slumbers, only serves to emphasis how poor they were. The closest they came to scoring was in fact a long range shot from Fitzy with which he failed to trouble the home keeper. Young Lowry made way for Mark Picking with 15 minutes left, but it was too little too late in my opinion. The Whites got their insurance goal with 12 minutes remaining, when Waterworth forced the ball home from 10 yards out with the United defence at sixes and sevens. After the ‘Lord Mayors show last week we certainly ended up with the ‘Donkey and cart’ at Ballyskeagh today. Needless to say a vast improvement will be required if United are to progress to the semi-final of the cup at the expense of Linfield next Saturday!

P. Murphy 5 Haveron 5 MoM: Kelly

McConaghie 5 Brown 5

McClean 5 Kelbie 7

Scates 6 King 5 Referee: M. Courtenay 4

Alb Watson 6 1^st Sub: Fitzy 5

Kelly 8 2^nd Sub: Aid Watson 6

Lowry 6 3^rd Sub: Picking 6

Holm Victory!

The hard core Sky Blue fans who made the trek to windswept Holm Park for today’s game with Armagh City, left for home in a jubilant mood. Not only did they leave with 3 points, they also witnessed a rare clean sheet from the United defence and the ‘icing on the cake’, former player Shea Campbell lost his rag as he came off the field threatening to take the visiting fans on in a punch up. United manager Tommy Wright made three changes to his starting line-up with Boydie taking over the left-back slot, Gary Haveron getting the nod in centre midfield alongside young recruit Stephen Lowry. This meant Mark Picking, Fitzy and McConaghie filled the subs bench. United won the toss and elected to use the benefit of the exceptionally strong breeze in the first half. This almost brought an instant dividend as Gary Haveron intercepted the Armagh kick-off, but instead of shooting for goal, opted to pass and the home defence just managed to avert the danger. Lowry got off to a great start and set Gareth Scates up for what should’ve been United’s opener after five minutes, but the United midfielder failed to trouble the keeper from inside the box. But United weren’t to be denied for long and they took the lead after 15 minutes, when the home defence failed to cut out Aaron Callaghan’s centre and Stuart King drove in a right foot shot which ricocheted off both posts before ending up in the back of the net. United tore at their opponents and Scates missed another good opening after 20 minutes. Nine minutes later United doubled their lead, when after a Stuart king corner had been played back to him he rifled in a hard low cross which Captain Albert Watson side-footed into the net. Gareth Scates missed another sitter ten minutes later, when he somehow headed a Kelbie cross over the bar, when it looked easier to score. Armagh mounted a late attack near halftime and United keeper Paul Murphy rescued his side with a good save. Lowry showed his football skills with a good exchange of passes down the touchline with Callaghan and Scates, but Armagh’s Chris Walker lost the plot and upended the United man. The referee blew the halftime whistle with the rare scoreline of United leading 2-0.

United were under the cosh a bit in the second half, but coped better with the conditions than the home team did in the first period. No one coped better with the conditions than veteran fullback Nigel Boyd and his cool head and good clearances helped immensely. Armagh’s Chris Walker forced a good save from United keeper Paul Murphy with a great free kick from 45 yards, which the keeper did well to punch over the bar. United despite playing against the howling wind, managed to string together a few attacks, but they usually broke down due to over elaboration. They finally got it right after 69 minutes when Paul Brown, a colossus in the United attack, played a gem of a pass to Stuarty King and the winger sprinted up the touchline, before delivering a beautiful cross to the far post. Gareth Scates made no mistake on this occasion when he volleyed the ball into the net from 14 yards out to give United a 3-0 lead. Shortly after this goal Tommy Wright took off Kelbie with Fitzy taking his place. Shea Campbell for once wriggled free of the United defence but his dipping shot was well saved by Murphy at the expense of another corner. Fitzy had a run on goal but elected to pass instead of shooting himself and the chance went abegging. Another substitution was made at this juncture with Mark Picking taking over from Scates, who got a good ovation from the visiting fans. Picking like Fitzy missed a chance to impress when he shot weakly after being put through by Lowry. The final substitution saw young McConaghie take over from Lowry and despite 4 minutes of stoppage time, United held out for a famous victory at the compact Armagh ground. United are now safe from automatic relegation, but an Inter Toto cup place is still a long way away, but not impossible!

P. Murphy 8 Scates 7 MoM: King

Callaghan 7 Brown 7

Boydie 8 Kelbie 6

Haveron 7 King 8 Referee: S. Mahon 3

Alb Watson 8 1st Sub: Fitzy 6

Kelly 7 2^nd Sub: Picking 6

Lowry 7 3^rd Sub: McConaghie 6

United Failure!

Ballymena’s big failing, not only in recent years I might add, has been their inability to put away the ‘so-called’ lesser teams. No team exemplifies this more than yesterday’s opponents, Limavady United. Before yesterday the two Uniteds had met on 3 occasions this season, with 2 draws and a win for Limavady the outcome and even though Ballymena had the lion’s share of possession yesterday, they should’ve been punished late on by their less illustrious opponents. With only 2 changes from last Saturday’s encounter with Linfield, Mark Picking in for the injured Gavin Melaugh and Scatesy taking the place of Lee Patrick, the Sky Blues looked uninterested from the outset. They created little during the first 45 minutes and in fact it was the visitors who were the hungrier team. The home defence looked a little shaky, but Paul Murphy in goal wasn’t tested during the first half and that was a relief for the home fans. United’s Gareth Scates was somewhat lucky to stay on the pitch after a reckless challenge on Limavady’s number 4, escaping with merely a caution from referee Steven Weatherall. The Limavady player was unable to continue and I foolishly though we might exploit the situation as they had lost a central defensive kingpin. Former Limavady striker Paul Brown, who has been rejuvenated of late, was given a chance to prove this point but missed an absolute ‘sitter’ for the home team midway through the half. Mark Picking and Callaghan combined down the right and Picking’s inch perfect cross found the unmarked Brown and he somehow missed the target with a free header from 8 yards out. Five minutes later he ‘missed’ once more with a free header from Picking’s in-swinging corner. This was about as good as it got for United during the opening period and it was a relief when the referee brought the half to an end.

United almost took the lead in the 53^rd minute when Stuarty King cut in from the left, but his stinging right-foot shot was touched onto the crossbar by the impressive Michael Doherty in the visitor’s goal. Ballymena, despite almost complete dominance in this half failed to carve out a clear opening, although there were one or two doubtful offside decisions which went in the visitor’s favour. Midway through the half the United manager took off Picking and brought on former Limavady player Stephen Lowery. Picking had been poor enough, but I’m afraid Lowery was even worse and the match just looked like petering out to a draw. Limavady were dangerous during the odd breakaway and United were indebted to team Captain Albert Watson who kept a cool head when under pressure. United’s top scorer Kevin Kelbie was replaced by youngster Randal Reid with 10 minutes left and he seemed to inject some urgency into the home attack. Limavady were indebted to keeper Doherty who saved from point blank range when United’s Paul Brown found himself free on goal. One of the features of the second half for me was the number of times keeper Doherty found the far touch line with his clearances, almost as if he was trying to put the ball out of play. As I said earlier Limavady squandered the best chance of the game in the 91^st minute when after good work by Ryan Semple their substitute screwed the pass wide with United keeper Murphy attempting to cover his goal. So the match ended in a scoreless draw and on this showing it’s hard to see how Ballymena can hope to push towards a possible 6^th finish in the league and in fact look as if they might struggle to maintain their present 9^th position. Their next 2 league fixtures are away to Armagh and Lisburn Distillery and United’s recent record against these two teams doesn’t exactly make for exhilarating reading. All Sky Blue fans have to look forward to is hopefully a semi-final game in the Irish cup, when the replay ‘saga’ finally comes to a successful conclusion, otherwise it will be ‘roll on next season’, as this one, like many more before it has been a huge disappointment!

P. Murphy 6 Aid Watson 6 MoM: Alb Watson

Callaghan 6 Brown 7

McClean 6 Kelbie 5

Scates 6 King 6 Referee: S. Weatherall 4

Alb Watson 7 1^st Sub: Lowery 5

Kelly 6 2^nd Sub: Reid 6

Picking 6

Nearly There!

Linfield came to town today with all their hype, 6 fulltime professionals, league leaders and the supposedly unbeatable tag. They left town tonight with their ‘tails between their legs’, knowing they came within a whisker of going out of the Irish cup. A disappointing statistic in my mind was that despite all the hype associated with the Belfast Blues, they brought a measly 1600 fans with them. This is after all the team that boasts to have a province wide fan base and if that’s all the fans they can muster for an away game on a Saturday (well of course they are a bunch of homers), what hope is there for the proposed new league set-up. The United team lined out exactly as predicted in Sky Blue Sport’s news item last night, substitutes and all. Do we have a direct line to Tommy Wright? Are we psychic? The answer to both these questions is no, it was just the only logical team selection open to the United manager. United almost got off to a dream start when Linfield keeper Alan Manus completely miskicked a back pass and was relieved to see it go for a United throw. United with Stuarty King and Gavin Melaugh raiding down both flanks took the game to their ultra-professional opponents and subjected them to relentless pressure. Linfield for their part despite some dangerous looking attacks never looked like breaching the United defence and I can’t remember keeper Paul Murphy having to make a worthwhile save throughout the first half. United’s Aiden Watson had his shirt tugged on a number of occasions as he tore at the Linfield defence but referee Davey Malcolm allowed them to get away without administering the customary yellow card. United fullback Aaron Callaghan should’ve done better when he broke up the right flank but failed to get a cross in. In all fairness to the Limavady man the ball bobbled as he was about to hit it, as it did for Gavin Melaugh when he blasted a shot wildly over the bar. Kevin Kelbie, who was giving Linfield veteran Noel Baillie a torrid time, went down clutching his back and it looked like United’s talisman was going to have to be substituted. He managed to hold out until halftime and United were unlucky once more when a Stuarty King shot clipped the crossbar with Manus scrambling.

Despite facing the breeze in the second-half, United continued to take the game to their opponents and the visiting defenders were using every trick in the book to slow the home team down. Only Davey Malcolm knows why Ballymena resident (not a Ballymena boy, their only ever was one), Stephen Douglas wasn’t cautioned for a deliberate shirt pull on United’s Aiden Watson. Two minutes later he cautioned Watson for a mistimed tackle on midfielder Gault, which only added insult to injury if you get my drift. Kevin Kelbie was flagged for offside by the linesman, who raised his flag late, but the United man appeared to run from his own half. That old wily fox Glenn Ferguson tried to con the referee by going down under a challenge from United Captain Albert Watson, but the referee ignored his deception. Kevin Kelbie and King were combining well down the left flank and it was fitting that they should be involved in United taking the lead. Kelbie laid off a clearance to King and he left Douglas for dead, before clipping a cross to Gavin Melaugh at the far post and his volley crashed off the crossbar before going in off Linfield’s Aiden O’Kane. Almost immediately United manager Tommy Wright withdrew Lee Patrick with Gary Haveron taking his place and this meant we defended a little too deeply for my liking. That goal had however put the Sky Blues one up and they should’ve wrapped up the game two minutes later when Aaron Callaghan, with support from Aiden Watson and Kevin Kelbie, ran at the static Linfield defence. Unfortunately Callaghan delayed his pass and Watson was adjudged to be offside, a dubious decision to say the least. Then Stuarty King was pulled back by Douglas once more and when the referee played advantage, but none came, he didn’t call the play back or book the culprit. In an ironic twist Douglas equalised for Linfield in the 80^th minute when after Dickson appeared to scoop the ball with his hand, the ball was driven into the United net by the fullback to level the scores. The Linfield players did their best to incite the home crowd with ‘crude’ gestures but thankfully the home supporters (we are the best behaved in the land after all), treated this with the contempt it deserved. Douglas, who already should’ve been cautioned on at least one occasion, was given yet another lifeline when he deliberately handled the ball as Craig McClean attempted to release Stuarty King down the left flank. In my opinion this should’ve been a red card as deliberate handling has no part in football and should be dealt with in the appropriate manner. Despite two minutes of stoppage time being played the teams could not be separated and also despite announcements to the contrary, the teams will have to replay at Windsor Park this Thursday to decide who meets Lisburn Distillery in the semi-final. If it’s anything like this game, it’ll be a humdinger and I for one can hardly wait. We’re still in the cup and we’ve nothing to fear, so let’s complete this job on Thursday night!

P. Murphy 7 Melaugh 8 MoM: Aid Watson

Callaghan 7 Patrick 7

McClean 7 Brown 7

Aid Watson 8 Kelbie 8 Referee: D. Malcolm 5

Alb Watson 8 King 8

Kelly 8 1^st Sub: Haveron 7