Ballynahinch United are in the Millbridge groove

6 April 2016

MILLBRIDGE was the setting for one of Ballynahinch United’s biggest victory margins in quite some time.

On what was a wet and miserable Saturday afternoon it was just the result that the brave band of supporters deserved.

Before the players left the changing rooms United manager Keith Hamilton emphasised the importance of a victory to avoid being sucked into a relegation battle which was thrown upside down during the week

following the distribution of points following misdemeanours by other clubs.

This had given the visiting Ballywalter side additional points while top five side Grove United had been docked 13 points — half their total — for a signing offence which spiralled them to the bottom of the table.

United started strongly with the forward pairing of Matthew Shaw and Aaron Cheevers causing the Ballywalter defence problems with their movement however little was being created except for a few corners and free kicks which did little to trouble the visiting keeper.

United got their breakthrough on the half hour mark when a through ball from Brashaw split the defence and Matthew Shaw outsprinted the defence before firing in a strong shot which the keeper got his hand to but could not keep out.

The visitors enjoyed a fair bit of possession in the latter stages of the first half, but defensively Alex Miller, Ross Hayes, Dalton Tate and Scott Brashaw kept their speedy forwards at bay while the Ballywalter manager replaced his central defence just after they fell behind.

In the second half it was the visitors who went on the offensive from the kick off. However, once United got possession of the ball the trend in the second half would soon be established.

Had it not been for several interventions from the referee to call players offside in what were extremely close decisions United would have been out of sight as Ethan Majury, Stuart Hunter, Ben Wilson and Dylan Carberry dominated the ball and fed Shaw and Cheevers with a series of openings.

United scored again in the 55th minute when the Ballywalter keeper lost possession having seemingly gathered a cross safely and Shaw gratefully accepted.

On the hour mark Shaw again found the net with a shot that went in off a defender, but the consensus of opinion was that it was goal-bound in any event.

Cheevers, who had dominated the game for most of the second half, deservedly got on the score sheet when he fired in with just the keeper to beat after great work by Hunter.

With his side leading 4-0 Hamilton rang the changes, bringing on Gavin Crawford, Gareth McMullan and David Kelly and almost immediately it was 5 -0 with McMullan heading home a cross from Shaw.

To their credit the Ballywalter players never gave up and they battled to the end, pulling a goal back in the 80th minute, mainly brought about by United’s desire to commit more players into forward positions, leaving themselves somewhat exposed and denying Bryan McMullan the clean sheet that his resolute goal keeping deserved.

The team will readily accept that this was not one of their best performances. However, it was nevertheless a vital result and all the more pleasing with five goals having been scored on what was a difficult surface which became increasingly slippy as the afternoon went on due to the heavy rainfall.

This week United travel to Portaferry for their first league encounter of the season.

Ballynahinch United 5

Ballywalter Rec 1

AMATEUR LEAGUE DIVISION 1B

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