Boss Cairns gutted as Ballymoney relegated

The 3-0 defeat away to Tobermore put the final nail in the coffin for the Ballymoney club who hung in with hopes of survival for the last number of weeks.

With time to reflect on thew weekend’s disappointment, Cairns commented: “It’s one of those things, its not easy to take but at the same time it’s not unexpected.

“We had given ourselves a chance with the results from the last couple of weeks so Saturday came as a big blow.

“The most disappointing thing for me was that we didn’t performa. It was as if it had got to the boys. I think the result Coagh had midweek against Glebe affected them, they just didn’t come out and show any fight.”

With the Tobermore just 20 minutes old, Ballymoney has already been forced to make two substitutions.

“I’m not making excuses, we weren’t good enough but the fact we lost two very important players through injury and had no centre half or centre midfielder didn’t help and then when we had to substitute two players you could see the head’s go down. What a difference from last week!

“If I’m being honest I didn’t think Coagh would get a result against Newington but I think the fact they beat Glebe gave them the confidence just at the right time and they fed off that.”

Having lost 3-0, the realisation that the inevitable had happened kicked in.

“I was absolutely gutted afterwards and I found it very hard to take. I think what hurt most was that we went out with a whimper rather than out with a bit of fight.

“All season I have said the players were better than the results and they just needed a bit of luck.”

Now facing life in the lower leagues Peter is prepared to stay on.

“The Committe have stressed to me that they want me to stay on. The decision is what league we go for now but the aim is to come straight back up again. That’s why I agreed to stay, I want to coach at the highest level I can and they have given me 100% backing that the aim is to go back up.

“I’m under no illusion that it’s going to be tough. We need to rebuild and aim to win the league we go into and get promotion straight back to the Championship.”