Draw with Glens puts the ‘point’ in disappointing

There’s a tendency to base gaining a point at one of the Belfast ‘Big Two’ as something of a bonus in historical terms rather than using the current status of the opponents as the benchmark.

If you were to look at the two squads as they stand, there wouldn’t be that much between them, in my summation.

Therefore, I’m just going to come straight out and say it - Ballymena United SHOULD, in my opinion, have left the Oval with all three points.

It wasn’t a game which will live long in the memory but the Sky Blues had the majority of the scant opportunities created by two teams who will struggle to finish any higher than mid-table, in my view.

The real frustration for me is that, during Ballymena’s remarkable run at the Oval in recent years, they have beaten much better Glentoran sides than the current one, which has been assembled against a backdrop of the Glens’ highly-publicised financial problems.

And yet, of course, it could all have gone disastrously wrong right at the end, but for the crucial intervention of the man who has become arguably United’s key player.

The striker who scores the winning goal, or the goalkeeper who saves a penalty will always attract the plaudits so it was nice to see Ballymena’s players rush to embrace defender Johnny Taylor at the final whistle after his they-shall-not-pass goal-line clearance and subsequent throwing himself on top of the ball to prevent the Glens from pinching victory at the death.

It’s over-simplifying the case to suggest that United’s downward spiral last season could be traced directly to the absence from last October of Taylor, but the defensive strongman’s unavailability certainly didn’t help.

With the most daunting parts of September’s fixture list now behind them, this week will provide challenges of a different kind for United with two fixtures in which they will be strong favourites.

The defence of the County Antrim Shield begins tonight (Tuesday) with a home game against Donegal Celtic and United have already seen this season in the League Cup scare against Ballymoney how attitude, as much as application, are important in games against lower-ranked opposition.

Then on Saturday, Warrenpoint Town are the visitors in the league. With the exception of Cliftonville, the border side were the best visiting team I saw at the Showgrounds last season when they outplayed United in the Irish Cup only to be knocked out by a last-minute winner, so Ballymena can’t say they haven’t been warned.

* Follow Ballymena Times Sports Editor Stephen Alexander on Twitter (@Stephen_Bmena)