Derby win for Fourths

In a good spirited local derby both sets of forwards worked hard with Ballymoney having the better in the scrums yet Coleraine seemed to have good control in the loose play and line-outs.

The first points came after 10minutes when Ballymoney gave away a penalty on their own 10 meter line. Glen Millar took the three points with a sweet strike.

In the face of a continued Coleraine attack Ballymoney defended well but their discipline was poor and they gave away another penalty. Millar slotted the kick over and followed it up with another soon after to give Coleraine a 9-0 lead.

In the forwards Burgess, Dixon and Cooper were putting in the hard work backed up by Ewan Scott and Russell Smyth who were a real nuisance in the loose.

Eventually the backs got the breakthrough they deserved. From the breakdown John McClelland popped the ball to Simon Caulfield who ran in a brilliant individual try.

He picked the ball up on the opposition’s 10 metre line and made a break between the Ballymoney centres. He then stepped inside two defenders breaking a final half hearted tackle to finish over Ballymoney’s line. Millar made the conversion.

Coleraine’s Willy Cooper was causing a lot of problems for the home side. He managed to steal possession and pop to Russell Smyth who won the race to the line to score a well deserved try. Millar made the conversion to put the score a 23-0.

Unfortunately Ballymoney lost one of their forwards with a possible broken ankle which helped Coleraine see out the game. Ballymoney had the wind in the second half and sensibly tried to gain field position however Glen Millar and Clive Mc Laughlin countered with strength and pace and managed to recover territory on most occasions.

Ian young and Chris Warke tackled well and helped keep the home attacks at bay however eventually Ballymoney did score after creating an overlap with a man short. This was followed by another try 10 min later to make the final score 23-12 to Coleraine.

Attention has to be brought to Graham and Andy Neely as well as Andy Draycott who covered every inch of the pitch in attack and defence. Craig Black captained the team and kept everyone focused on the job.

Chris Warke played well but was quiet throughout the game. We were later to find out he had been concussed through the whole game and was taken to hospital afterwards.

Man of the match went to Willy Cooper for the ground gained in his attacks but it was a super team performance. The players hope that the news was not too bad for the injured Ballymoney player.

The Ballymoney result sets the Fourths up well for this week’s cup game, at home, against Dromore Thirds. The players want to have good support to encourage them into the semi-final of the Forster Cup.

The match starts at 2.30pm Saturday, March 6. Put it in your diary and come along to cheer the team on.