Jenkins thrilled as Sky Blues finally end ‘derby’ woe

Allan Jenkins admitted he was thrilled to play a starring role as Ballymena United finally ended their ‘derby’ day misery against Coleraine.
Allan Jenkins drills home Ballymena United's third goal through a crowded penalty area. INBT 53-188CSAllan Jenkins drills home Ballymena United's third goal through a crowded penalty area. INBT 53-188CS
Allan Jenkins drills home Ballymena United's third goal through a crowded penalty area. INBT 53-188CS

The Scot scored twice at Ballycastle Road to earn the Sky Blues their first win over the neighbours in 15 attempts.

“It certainly went better for me than my last game at Coleraine when I did my medial ligament after eight minutes and was out for three-and-a-half months!” grinned Jenkins.

“It was a game that had everything - right down to a broken finger!

“We knew it was going to be difficult against Coleraine, who have had that hoodoo over us.

“In my time here, and even beyond that, we haven’t managed to get a result so we’ve put that to bed now.

“I think we were probably worth our result on chances created.

“It was an anxious last few minutes - in fact it was an anxious last 70 minutes!

“Coleraine made it very difficult for us - you look at the players they have and where they are in the table and wonder how but that’s football and they’re perhaps not carrying the luck just now.

“For the work we did, the way we defended and how we took our chances, that’s what you need to do in football.

We deserved our win and we’ll enjoy it.

“It’s great for the fans, particularly with the numbers we had and the backing we got.

“With social media now you get all sorts of messages from fans saying ‘we need to win this one’ and it puts a wee bit extra pressure on us but we’re just glad that we extended Christmas for the fans a wee bit.

“For the first goal, with the form that Cush is in, I was expecting him to shoot on his left peg but he reversed a pass and I’ve managed to shoot across the keeper and it sneaked in off the far post.

“The second one came from a corner, a few people missed it and it managed to fall to me. I managed to get it down and hit it as hard as I could. It was strange to score that one and not one person behind the goal to celebrate.

“We’ll enjoy our victory but it’s only three points.

“It puts us into the top six so we’ll try to keep it going.

“We’ve come through a run of tough fixtures with a good run of results and with fixtures coming up against teams below us, hopefully we can kick on again.

“We’re enjoying the run we’re on and we’ll keep doing what we’re doing and see where it takes us,” added Jenkins.

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