Ballymena United 2
Portadown 0
League (NIFL Premiership)

Match Report

Second half strikes from Finley Thorndike and Igor Rutkowski secured Ballymena United a first home win of the campaign in a 2-0 win over Portadown on Saturday afternoon.

A week on from a well fought 1-1 draw with Dungannon, United made three changes for the visit of the bottom side. Precautions with Chris McKee and James Hood saw them exit the starting line-up, while Scot Whiteside missed out through suspension, as Finley Thorndike, Michael Leetch and Daithí McCallion all came in.

Much like Ballymena's last home game, coming in the draw with Carrick Rangers, the first half wasn't much to write home about. The opening half an hour was one that David Jeffrey's side will have enjoyed more, with the hosts unable to create anything of note and chances passing the Ports by. On fourteen minutes, Sean O'Mahoney dragged a shot wide of the post by a matter of inches, before the same man had a header well saved by David Walsh off a free kick.

With twenty-six minutes played, it was hard to tell how the visitors hadn't gone ahead. A corner got all the way to Baris Altintop at the back post, whose header almost creeped in at the far post, only for Walsh to save, albeit at the second attempt, in an odd passage of play.

It took until eight minutes from the break for United to finally worry Aaron McCarey, but his first proper action was a good one as the 'keeper made a stunning save to divert a bending effort from Caoimhin McConnell over, which was cruising towards the top corner from just inside the box. The corner came to nothing, as a drab first half ended scoreless.

The second half threatened to follow the path of the first in the opening fifteen minutes, with again neither side really able to put enough good stuff together to entertain.

A first change for the Sky Blues just before the hour mark saw Sean Murray replace Leetch and Murray's introduction brought with it a lift in United's play, leading to an opening goal four minutes later. There didn't look to be too much threat, until a clever backheel from McConnell to Thorndike just outside the box. From there, Finley Thorndike did the rest, producing a stepover and cutting inside, before bending a beauty into the top corner.

The goal clearly brought a bit of swagger back into United's play and soon after Kodi Lyons-Foster came close to adding a second, with a header from a corner requiring some work out of McCarey.

Portadown brought a triple threat of attackers off their bench in an attempt to scramble back into the game, but bar a Jack Scott strike from distance that Walsh easily gathered, the bottom side looked just about out of ideas and with eight minutes to go, Ballymena had a maximum points securing second goal. A lovely team move, that had McConnell and Murray again at the heart of it, ended with the latter slipping Igor Rutkowski in on goal and the striker did what he does best to calmly dispatch his fourth of the season.

A wonderful reaction save from Walsh late in the day preserved United's clean sheet as he kept Ahu Obhakhan out at close range, as the Braidmen picked up a huge three points, their first since the opening day, to start moving in the right direction.

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