Bonus point win puts Braidmen top of table

From the kick-off, the Braidmen had Highfield under pressure with strong running from the forwards. Highfield’s attempts to slow the ball down in the break down was deemed illegal by the referee and he showed Highfield the first yellow card within the opening 10 minutes. From the resulting penalty Timmy Small dispatched the ball between the post to open the scoring, 0-3.

On 22 minutes Highfield gave away another penalty and this one was in the range of Timmy Small’s boot. The in form fullback added the extra 3 points, 0-6. Small added two more penalties to take his and his side’s total to 12 points.

With only seconds left on the clock Ballymena received the kick off and a moment of magic from Ulster’s Ricky Andrew saw him side step the up rushing defender before racing under the posts beating 3 other defenders on the way. The conversion was added by Timmy Small. Half time 0-19

At the start of the second half Highfield started to apply pressure which saw Ballymena reduced to 14 men when Jamie Smith sin binned for an infringement in the break down. Highfield got themselves on to the score board with the resulting penalty, 3-19.

A few minutes later Ballymena were reduced to 13 men when forward Connor Smith was shown a yellow card. The momentum was with Highfield and after several phases they opened the Ballymena defence to score out wide.

Ballymena back to full strength and against the run of play added to their lead when Timmy Small hacked through a wayward Highfield pass before collecting the ball to race unchallenged under the posts. He added the conversion, 8-26.

Ballymena’s chances of a bonus point were boosted by a superb maul from the forwards which allowed Connor Smith to redeem his yellow card when he forced himself over the line for their third try. Timmy Small added the conversion, 8-33.

Five minutes from time Highfield was reduced to 14 men when their fullback was shown a red card for a high tackle on his opposite number.

With seconds left on the clock Ricky Andrews broke through some weak tackling to score under the posts to secure the try bonus point. Timmy Small added the conversion bringing his personal tally to 25 and the overall score to 8-40.

Prop Adrian Kirkpatrick was voted man of the match.

Ballymena: A Kirkpatrick, J Andrew, C Cundell, D Whann, C Smith, M Rea, M Entwhistle, A Hamilton, D Shanahan, G Bailey, J Foster, R Andrew, J Smith, M Johnston, T Small. Subs: A Ferguson, J Taggart, M Foster, D Montgomery, J Mcmullan