Bubble is burst as men lose against Larne

Ballymena started on the right foot and were 1 – 0 up by a goal from young Tori Alexander but Larne were admittedly the better side and had most of the possession.

It was a 10 minute onslaught by Larne, during which they scored 4 goals, which killed off all chances of the home side getting back into the game.

The pressure posed by Larne was felt by the inexperienced youth of the Ballymena team and they let their heads go down, a valuable lesson to be learnt before the actual league starts.

Ballymena also felt the absence of Clive Fulton, who will return to N.Ireland in a month, and Mark Allison, who was absent for the match. They allowed Larne to score again in the match, leaving the result 5-1.

Ballymena will be facing this side again in the league in just a month’s time and will not want a repeat performance especially when they feel they should be on the same par as their opponents.

But they still have to take on Armagh away next week in their final leg of the Cup Competition. Armagh play in section one of the league and have already knocked up big wins in the Cup so this will not be a match Ballymena will be looking forward to.

Coach Paul Harvey, will have his job cut out preparing the Braid men for the season, not just physically but also mentally, if the young players on the team are to rise to such challenges and not throw away points from teams they know they could beat.

Firsts: Alister Gibson, Davey McDonald, Andrew Lorimer, Andy Shields, Chris Hogg, Victor Orr, Jonny Holmes, Mark Monteith, Tori Alexander, Matthew Corbett, Andrew McKelvey, Jack Gibson, Sammy Wilson