Newest entry in United’s history books doesn’t make for pleasant reading

The chapter about not winning a major trophy for the best part of a quarter of a century may yet be rewritten within the next week or so – although not if the evidence of Saturday’s trouncing by Cliftonville is the benchmark.

Instead, in the meantime, the new entry is not so much ‘Hall of Fame’ as ‘Wall of Shame’ with Saturday’s 8-0 loss United’s worst defeat since 1938, when Belfast Celtic dished out the same treatment.

It was one of those days where, from the moment keeper Dwayne Nelson collided with Ross Black to present Cliftonville with an easy opening goal inside five minutes, you got an awful sense of foreboding about what lay in store.

It wasn’t so much the case that Ballymena were totally awful – strange as it sounds, I’ve probably witnessed more abject displays over the years. It was one where the scoreline will invariably cloud people’s judgement as to how good or bad the performance actually was, a bit like Northern Ireland’s draw with Azerbaijan in midweek.

Superb as Cliftonville were, there were a touch of the freakish about the scoreline because even Reds boss Tommy Breslin was gracious enough to admit that it was a day where virtually everything his side hit went in – aside from the goals, I don’t recall Nelson having a save to make or a constant procession of chances. In short, if Cliftonville created a chance, they buried it.

Player for player, Ballymena are not in a position to outplay this Cliftonville side – the big disappointment, though, was that the Sky Blues didn’t compete with their north Belfast opponents anywhere near adequately enough.

On too many occasions, when Ballymena players got the ball they turned back into a crowd of red shirts while, conversely, when Cliftonville gained possession, the Showgrounds pitch appeared to take on the dimensions of its Wembley counterpart, such was the space they were able to find.

That optical illusion, of course, was created by the Reds’ hard work and willingness, both to get the ball and then to do something with it and it was in these key areas that Ballymena didn’t come close to reaching their opponents’ levels.

For all the criticism that the suspended Gavin Taggart sometimes attracts from Ballymena’s support, his side didn’t half miss his ability to put his foot in, break up play and generally provide a buffer between United’s midfield and defence.

The reality, of course, is that he couldn’t have stemmed the flow all on his own – and it will be collectively, as well as individually, that Ballymena will have to improve, and quickly, because Windsor Park, for a league game this Saturday, is not the type of place to go if you’re feeling sorry for yourself.

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