Ballymena United 1
Ards 0
League Cup (Quarter final)

Match Report

A first half finish from Donal Rocks helped Ballymena United into the quarter finals of the BetMcLean Cup thanks to a 1-0 victory over Ards in a close encounter at The Showgrounds on Tuesday evening.

With United looking to end a three game losing run and progress to the League Cup's final eight, Jim Ervin made four changes from the side that were well beaten by Portadown on Friday night. Included in those was a first home appearance for Jack O'Mahony and a big moment for captain Colin Coates, who made his first start in well over a year following his long term injury lay off.

Prior to kick-off, Ballymena United held their annual service of Remembrance, as a minutes silence was preceded by the laying of wreaths by Jim Ervin and Ards boss John Bailie.

In the opening round of this competition, it took penalties for the Braidmen to get past Rathfriland Rangers in a tight encounter and this one proved to be no different against Championship opposition. It was a bright start for the home side mind, as early on Josh Carson headed over and Ethan Devine headed at Alex Moore after two crosses from Joe Moore.

After Ballymena's good early spell, the away side soon showed they hadn't come to Warden Street to just sit in against their higher league opponents, but a dangerous three minute spell from Ards untimely ended in the game's only goal down the other end. First, Jay Dalzell struck just wide after slack defending from Ballymena, before a miscued clearance from Coates had Sean O'Neill scrambling, but it went just wide and from the resulting corner O'Neill made a huge save to deny Zach Barr.

A couple of minutes after that flurry of Ards activity, the Sky Blues broke up the pitch and broke the deadlock. A tidy move down United's right hand side ended with Moore receiving the ball in the wide channel and his low cross had a number of sky blue shirts lining up to finish, but it was Donal Rocks who was the one to add the finishing touches as he picked out the bottom corner.

The remaining half hour of the first half had very little to talk about as both sides looked to be lacking in any real clinical touch in the final third. The majority of the half chances were coming the hosts way, but the best of them saw goalkeeper Moore easily save from his namesake Joe and a block from former United man Michael Ruddy to prevent Moore being called into more action, as a quiet half after a busy start ended with United halfway to the quarter's.

The second half was much like the first in that it wasn't a half hot on chances, but it proved to be a half in which Ards gave United plenty to think about. That said, the first real opening came Ballymena's way when a delightful flick from Devine put Ben Kennedy in, but after he'd sat one defender down, a second blocked his close range shot. Shortly after at the other end, Ards got in behind United's back line for one of the first times all night as Dalzell got in, but he opted to shoot early and fired well over.

Just before the hour mark, Calvin McCurry and Alex Gawne replaced Moore and Kennedy as Jim Ervin looked to bring some freshness to proceedings, but as the away side began to grow in confidence, another flurry of chances in a short period of time almost had the tie level. On sixty-six minutes, Barr let a huge chance pass him by when Conor Scannell's cross landed at the feet of the forward in a lot of space around the penalty spot, but he completely mishit his attempt.

Two minutes later it looked like it would be 1-1 when Ross Hunter beat O'Neill to a through ball and rounded the 'keeper, but after he slipped he was never able to get the chance under control and eventually he could only tee up Eamon Scannell, who brought another great stop out of O'Neill who was retreating back to his goal.

In the middle of those chances the home side had one of their own when Carson's free kick went right through to Devine who probably only needed a touch, but couldn't get one, though after a really strong fifteen odd minutes from Ards, Ballymena were able to regain some control as full time edged closer. With ten minutes to go, McCurry rattled the crossbar from an extremely tight angle, but in truth that was the last chance of the game as the away side ran out of steam and Ballymena put together a professional final few minutes.

1-0 is how it finished, against an Ards side who gave it a proper go and will be disappointed to fall just short, but for United, whilst it wasn't always pretty, once again importantly it was enough, as they book a spot in Wednesday's quarter final draw.

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