Ballymena United 2
Ballymacash Rangers 1
County Antrim Shield (Round 1)

Match Report

Ballymena United navigated their way through a testing opening Co. Antrim Shield tie with a 2-1 victory over Ballymacash Rangers in a tight encounter at The Showgrounds on Tuesday night.

Probably as expected, Jim Ervin changed things up on the team sheet from United's first league win on Friday night, ahead of the first knock out action of the season, with debuts for Oisin Devlin and Ethan Devine amongst the four changes made.

Despite a poor start to their season in the third tier, Ballymacash made a strong start against their Premiership opposition and within the first three minutes Benny Igiehon had fired over and former Ballymena man William Faulkner headed wide. After riding out that early mini storm, the Braidmen soon got themselves on top in the game and after The Cash 'keeper Brian Neeson had twice denied Ben Kennedy, first in batting away a shot from distance, and then producing a stunning save with his leg from close range, on seventeen minutes Kennedy finally got the better of him. Captain Donal Rocks was as industrious as ever early on and after winning the ball in his own half he drove forward before finding Alex Gawne out wide, and when the ball quickly made its way to Ben Kennedy, from outside the D he sent a tremendous effort flying past Neeson who had no chance.

Ballymena remained on top after Kennedy's delightful opener, but a lapse in concentration at the back should've got the Lisburn side back level when a flicked ball on caught Ballymena asleep, allowing Anto Burns in one on one, but he was denied by a huge stop by Sam Johnston. The visitors continued to carry a threat on the break to remind the hosts of their presence and another good chance to level passed them by when Igiehon charged his way from the halfway line into the box, but after holding off Daithi McCallion, he saw his shot go wide by inches.

In the final ten minutes of the half, the Sky Blues began to turn their possession into chances again and after another couple of Kennedy efforts went first just over, before Neeson was called into action again to deny Friday's hattrick man, with seven to go to the break Ballymena extended their lead. A quick throw in down the left found Gawne who skipped past the tackle of former Ballymena man Andy McGrory, and Gawne's cut back to the corner of the six yard box found Ethan Devine who swept home at the near post to get his Sky Blue career up and running with a debut strike.

Just two minutes after Devine's goal, the home side quickly found their lead cut to one again, as rather fittingly McGrory pulled one back. Devlin was penalised for a foul just outside the box, and up stepped McGrory, a fantastic servant for United and back at The Showgrounds just four days after his deadline day move, and he curled the free kick round the wall and into the back of the net, with the goal met by applause from both sets of supporters.

If conceding was disappointing for Ballymena, two minutes later came more concern as the man of the moment Kennedy was forced off through injury, with the severity of it unclear, but it did pave the way for some history on Warden Street as he was replaced by fifteen-year-old Luke Hawe, who becomes Ballymena United's youngest ever player.

The first half had ended with a big chance for Gawne who was thwarted by Neeson who was out quick to make the save, but the second half was a much quieter affair, with the hosts unable to put the game to bed. The first chance of the half fell Ballymacash's way four minutes in, when a lovely chested lay off from Igiehon just inside the half set Dylan Sinnerton racing through, but his shot was denied by a top block from Kym Nelson. The resulting corner landed to Faulkner in the six yard box, but on the swivel he fired wide to keep Ballymena's noses in front.

That was it for chances for a while in what was playing out to be a fairly even half, but whilst the Cash never really gave Johnston much to do, Ballymena also never looked like killing off the tie. That said, when a chance finally came on sixty-five minutes, it was a huge one for United. From around the right corner flag, Sean Brown delivered a terrific ball into the six yard box where it was met by a diving header from Gawne at the back post, but he had to get down so low to connect and saw his header into the ground just narrowly clear the crossbar.

A bit of growing tension was heightened shortly after Gawne's chance when a poor challenge by Rocks on Karl Devine was met by a poor piece of retaliation, sparking a bit of a melee, that unsurprisingly saw both players booked. After that came a couple of chances for either team. For the away side, Sinnerton saw a bending effort easily held by Johnston, while at the other end a drilled shot from Josh Carson was blocked into the path of Devlin, who at close range fired straight at Neeson.

In the final five minutes Ballymena were a little wasteful as they failed to turn plenty of the ball in and around the box into chances, keeping Ballymacash very much in it late on, and when the hosts thought they'd wrapped things up when Johnny McMurray turned in the rebound of a saved Mikey Place shot, the offside flag went up to keep Cash alive. In the end, Ballymena saw themselves into the last eight, thankfully not regretting failing to finish off a more than battling Ballymacash side, but a professional performance sees United avoid a second straight shock first round exit, to book a place in round two.

Match report written by Philip McPeake (www.ballymenaunitedfc.com)