Davidson hails United’s team spirit in revival

The midfielder enjoyed a dream week, opening the scoring in the midweek County Antrim Shield semi-final win against Donegal Celtic and then repeating the trick in Friday night’s league win at Dungannon Swifts.

That would be a boost at any time of the season but even more so for a player whose season is only now beginning to take shape after an ankle injury setback at the outset.

“It happened before the season started when I got clipped by David Reid, our reserve team right-back,” recalls Davidson.

“It wasn’t sore at the time but it began to swell up and it was sore the next day so I went and got an X-ray at Daisy Hill Hospital and they told me there was no break.

“When I told Gordon McCartney (club sports therapist) he believed it was tendon injury but five or six weeks later I thought it wasn’t feeling right and I was sent for an MRI scan which revealed a spiralling stress fracture on my fibula the whole time.

“Thankfully it has healed up nicely but it was a really frustrating start to the season for me because I had got myself to a good level of fitness and was excited about the start of the season – instead I ended up missing the first two months, which was a nightmare.

“I had my first 90 minutes in four months against Donegal Celtic and then another 70 minutes at Dungannon so I’m slowly but surely getting back – all I need now is to get the sharpness back but that will come.”

It looked as though Davidson’s impressive form at the tail end of last season was to be the end of his time at the Showgrounds, amid speculation that he was going to try his hand at a career in England.

He explains: “I have a son in Brighton and every second week I travel over to see him so it would have been for convenience more than anything else.

“In the end it’s great to have got a bit of stability by signing for Ballymena.

“It’s the best team I’ve ever played for in terms of team spirit.

“Everyone is one each other’s backs in training and I mean that in a good way – we all want to strive to be the best we can.

“We’re all best friends in the team – I know that sounds like a real cliché but everyone is very, very close to each other and that helps us out on the pitch.

“Norman, Lee and Glenn have instilled something in us, obviously they were winners as players and they’ve brought that into their coaching careers so hopefully we can aspire to try to achieve some of the success they had.”

Davidson’s ability to not only create but also score goals will be key for Ballymena’s hopes and he notched another impressive strike at Stangmore Park on Friday night.

“It was good vision by James McCabe to lay it back and I just needed to get my head over it and I managed to get it through the bodies in the box and into the bottom corner.

“I don’t set myself goal targets as such. I’ll just keep shooting and see if they go in – as long as the net keeps bulging I’ll be happy!” added Davidson.