Took Them!

It may seem a funny headline this week as Ballymena recording three league wins in a row, but a few weeks ago we were bemoaning missed chances, now we're taking them. By an ironic twist of fate, the opposition are missing loads of chances and if they (Ballyinmallard), had taken even half of them I could be reporting on a different scenario, but its goals that count. United's benevolence in front of goal continued in one vein, when we got a penalty and normal penalty-taker Ally was not in our side, why was the kick handed to Cush, who struggled the whole day, that was the second penalty we missed this season, but luckily it didn't come back to haunt us. In the absence of Ally, whom I saw skipping up the steps of the home stand before kick-off, but we are told he hadn't been able to train because of flu symptoms, Mario got a rare start and he acquitted himself well on our left flank.

United spurned a great chance to take an early lead, when Captain Jenks found Tony K in space, but Tony went for the spectacular half volley, which was 'high, wide and not so handsome' instead of taking his time and picking his spot. In a way that summed up the rest of the half for us, when we would make delightful passes and when we needed something positive, like a shot or a killer pass, Cush, Thommo and Tony K, would try 'fancy flicks' which were bread and butter to the Ducks defence. The Ducks on the other hand were trying a direct route to goal and United had a lucky let-off on 27 mins,when Leckey was allowed to cut in and his left-foot shot struck the post with Addis beaten. Just moments earlier, Marky McCullagh had to head a probing cross for a corner and from the corner how Leckey escaped the referee Davey's notebook beggars belief, when he head-butted Addis as he clutched the ball out of space.

Sammy Patterson and me were talking about Ally being absent and the corner-kick taking would fall to Cush in Ally's absence. We needn't have worried, David took at least five corners and only one of them he bleanged wide and it was with his weaker right-foot and he got the penalty on target, Sammy expected him to hit over the bar in the direction of Farm Lodge. But he was struggling in the normal facets of his game, but to his credit he continued to try, that's why he is our talisman. From a corner on the right, Mario 'missed' with a free header, heading wide from David's pinpoint cross and in time added on, JT 'missed' with a volley following a Tony K free-kick, but I think he had time to make sure, but he was the judge and he made the decision. Halftime was reached scoreless and in truth we had no complaints, we were playing too much football to my mind, we needed to get in among them to my way of thinking, but what do I know.

2nd half
United showed greater purpose in the 2nd half but gave the ball away cheaply at the kick-off, who comes up with these ploys at the kick-off I wonder, or do the players make up on the spot. The Ducks squandered an excellent chance when they got a lucky break from a sliced clearance and McManus raced clear, but blazed wildly over the bar. Moments later Leckey out-foxed JT, but he missed the target also. This woke United up from their slumbers and after a spell of concerted pressure, Archie's telling cross was misjudged by Rouse in the Ducks goal and as Jenks challenged the ball fell to Sparky and he rifled it into the net to give the Sky Blues the lead on the hour mark. The Sky Blues started to play now and when Jenks chased a short back-pass and was brought down by Rouse the game looked over. I was amazed to see Rouse still on the field, surely he should have been sent-off it was a clear goal-scoring opportunity, but referee Davey bottled it. Not to be outdone, United bottled it too. In the absence of regular penalty king, Ally, I was surprised to see Cush (who was way below form), selected to take the penalty.

The Captain is the boss on the field and he has the last say, but in this case he didn't assert his authority or was he not allowed to. Anyway David stepped up to take the kick and Rouse dived to his left and made a great save, but I couldn't help thinking that we'd been mugged, by the ref for not doing his job and our Captain or manager, by not nominating the right man for the job. In my humble opinion if Captain Jenks wasn't up for it, the task should have fallen to vice-Captain Archie, who was playing superbly. The Ducks started to think they could save this match but luckily from a corner, twice taken on the right, when everybody thought it should be taken from the left, Cush found Mario lurking in the six-yard area and I think he just got in the way of the ball, I honestly don't know which part of his body it hit, but it ended up in the net to give us a fortuitous 2-0 lead, a lead that we hardly deserved but that's football. The Ducks threw everything into attack and we were under the cosh for the remainder of the half.

Fergie started to ring the changes, Alan D for Thommo when were under the cosh, I thought was foolhardy and Alan D, bless him, repaid Spike's faith in him by wasting a free-kick striking the ball from fully 35 yards past the post, a waste of an opportunity to get some respite and dare I say it, a waste of space. Alan D came on in the 84 mins and Lowry came on a minute later to replace Cush, who got warm applause from the United faithful. How the Ducks failed to make a match of it I'll never know for despite having the United defence split asunder and four of their men waiting on a cross they wasted the opportunity with a scuffed shot. Deep in stoppage time JT had to chance to relieve the pressure somewhat by getting the ball into touch, but he compounded a miserable day for him, by giving the ball away and therefore increasing the pressure on our beleaguered defence. Two of our defenders stepped up to the plate at this time and throughout out the match, Archie and my man of the match, Cookie Munster, who it was later confirmed had played on with a broken toe sustained in the first half.

The Ducks pressure looked like bearing some fruit at last but luckily substitute Sheridan headed wide from a good position. United had the last meaningful say in the match, when Neil Lowry took off like a greyhound,leaving two Ducks players in his wake and from his deep cross Tony K could only head past the post. Finally referee Davey blew his whistle and United had picked up another three points, we weren't impressive, but we got the job done. We finally 'bucked the trend' of losing to teams we should be able to beat with our last three wins, but its going to get tougher from now on in and we will need to dig deep to continue this run starting with a trip to Shamrock Park to play Portadown, who incidentally we have beat in our last three meetings, that's one trend I hope we don't buck. Then it's Glenavon after that who have skelped us a few times of late, but I'm getting ahead myself, lets savour the victory, whether we deserved or not and spare a thought for our dear friends down the A26, ha, ha, slap it up the Coleraine scum, I say and come on Sky Blues!

Addis (7), Marky (7), Archie (8), Cookie (8), JT (6), Thommo (6)(Sub: Alan D 6,), Sparky (7), Tony K (6), Cush (7)(Sub: Lowry 7,), Jenks (7), Mario (7)

Man of the match: Cookie Munster