First XI ladies come unstuck against Rainey

The match began with strong periods of pressure from both teams, resulting in a scoreless first half, much to Ballymena’s delight, on the tricky indoor surface.

The second half got underway with Ballymena exerting strong pressure around the Rainey circle, but as the play broke down Rainey countered quickly and effectively to take an early lead 1-0.

Somewhat caught cold Ballymena, couldn’t keep the following Rainey attacks at bay and quickly found themselves 2 more goals down at 3-0!

Ballymena’s Kirsten Young sparked a glimmer of hope midway through the half to claw the Rainey lead back to two goals, but despite further Ballymena pressure, Rainey managed to find a fourth goal before full time to take the game 4-1 .

Ballymena: J. Davis, S. Morrison, E. Gillespie, G. McBurney, C. McCracken, J. Sutherland, A. Crooks, H. Taggart, J. Duncan, C. Gillespie, R. Murphy, A. Logan, K. Young.

MEN

South Antrim IV 2, Ballymena 0: The Men’s 1s travelled to Lisburn on Saturday hoping to continue their unbeaten run in Junior 5. The first half was a fairly even contest with little in the way of real goal scoring opportunities for either side.

As the second half got underway, Ballymena were slow off the mark and found themselves a goal down after South Antrim converted one of the games few penalty corners to take the lead. Ballymena responded well and were unlucky not to bring the game level again with some well worked passing moves.

As time ran out for the away team, a quick break away led to a South Antrim second goal to put the contest beyond doubt. Final score 2-0.

The team would like to thank Davy Lorimer for umpiring.

Ballymena: A. Linford, J. Birrell(GK), C. Hogg, D. McDonald, R. Jess, A. Bell, V. Orr, A. McKeown, A. Lorimer, C. Davis, M. Allison A. Crooks.

Bangor IV 3, Ballymena II 2: Bangor took an early lead, only to have it pegged back from a quick defensive clearance that picked up Tim Lowry, whose strike beat the keeper to the bottom corner to make it 1-1. As Ballymena attempted to hold on, Bangor went back in front in yet another turn of pace. Ballymena held on, pushing the home side further up the pitch, with good interplay from Archer and Lowry that saw Ken Murphy play Tim Lowry in from his second just before the half time break to level the match again.

In the second half, the umpire incorrectly awarded a penalty flick for a high shot on goal, hitting a defender! McConnaghie for the second week in a row came millimetres from a save.

Ballymena: K. McConaghie, J. Grimason, D. McDowell, A. Hanna(C), T. Lowry, P. Nicholl, S. Glass, K. Murphy, S. Gordon, E. Hampton, E. Archer.