Saintfield overcome local rivals in derby

6 March 2024

SAINTFIELD United secured both the victory and the bragging rights when they overcame Ballynahinch United in their local derby fixture at Pigeon Hill on Saturday.

The Saints haven’t played a game for almost a month and it showed early on as they went through the motions.

However, two goals from Saintfield striker Ryan Sofley helped turn things around for the hosts after they entered the interval behind thanks to a composed finish from Ballynahinch danger man Graeme McMullan.

The main talking point stemmed from Saintfield’s second goal, which was a penalty, after substitute Edilson Tavares was brought down inside the Ballynahinch area.

Despite Ballynahinch appeals that the tackle was a fair and honest one, referee Stuart McClelland thought the opposite and the spot kick was duly dispatched by Sofley into the top left corner to mark a century of league goals for the Saintfield stalwart.

The game endured a rather scrappy opening period with both teams struggling to gain a foothold on proceedings and possession was being turned over at regular intervals.

The opportunities came in the form of half chances until Ballynahinch finally broke the deadlock after 34 minutes as Saintfield failed to sufficiently clear a corner kick, allowing the ball to fall to the feet of McMullan.

The Ballynahinch striker jinked right and then left to give himself the angle before curling a sweeping effort into the corner of the net for what was a fantastic finish.

This put Ballynahinch a goal ahead and in the ascendancy and they almost doubled their advantage just moments later when a speculative effort from 25 yards out crashed off the inside of the Saintfield post and eventually out of bounds.

The half-time whistle was a welcomed one for the hosts, who regrouped accordingly and came out firing in the second half.

Ballynahinch goalkeeper Stefan Graham had his gloves tested on several occasions after the restart, while Saintfield custodian Craig Bowman was forced to keep his focus as Ballynahinch attacks came few and far between.

With 52 minutes gone, Saintfield drew level when Mark Gregg’s inviting delivery was headed back into the danger area for Sofley to nod home from close range.

Saintfield continued to apply pressure with the introduction of substitute Edilson Tavares, who made an immediate impact with his probing runs in attack.

Tavares pounced on a defensive error in the Ballynahinch attack to leave him one on one with ‘keeper Graham, before referee McClelland adjudged that the striker was unfairly upended inside the box and a penalty kick was awarded.

Up stepped Sofley, who converted his second goal of the match and gave Saintfield the lead for the first time in the contest.

Despite battling efforts from the visitors, there was no late drama and all three points went the way of the Saints.

Following the conclusion, Saintfield midfielder Peter Strain reflected on his team’s hard-fought victory.

“We were very sluggish in the first half, we haven’t played in about four weeks so I would say there’s a few tired legs,” he said.

“But, we came out in the second half and we were much better. We got the ball down and started playing a bit of football, I think in the first half we were just trying to go long too much.

“Overall, good game to get back, three points after four weeks off so we will take it.”

Saintfield: C Bowman, A McClenaghan, O Duff, M Gregg, A Kirkland (capt), A Milligan, P Strain, A Brown, S McCormick, R Sofley, R Murray.

Subs: C McCloskey, A Childs, E Tavares.

Yellow cards: M Gregg, S McCormick.

Ballynahinch: S Graham, G Hall, S Lurring, J McNeill, C Coleman, S McMullan, N Ouldhamlat, D Kelly, G Crawford, R Lurring, G McMullan.

Subs: I McMullan, P Harkin.

Yellow cards: S Graham, S Lurring, J McNeill, S McMullan, D Kelly.

Referee: S McClelland.

Saintfield United 2

Ballynahinch United 1

AMATEUR LEAGUE DIV 1C

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