Penalty king Alan shows nerves of steel when put on the ‘spot’

Alan Teggart kept up his impressive record from the penalty spot to ensure Ballymena United completed the season unbeaten in ‘derby’ games against Coleraine.
Alan Teggart, pictured here with Coleraine's David Ogilby, kept up his impressive penalty-taking record with an injury-time equaliser in Saturday's 'derby'. Picture: Press Eye.Alan Teggart, pictured here with Coleraine's David Ogilby, kept up his impressive penalty-taking record with an injury-time equaliser in Saturday's 'derby'. Picture: Press Eye.
Alan Teggart, pictured here with Coleraine's David Ogilby, kept up his impressive penalty-taking record with an injury-time equaliser in Saturday's 'derby'. Picture: Press Eye.

The winger netted from 12 yards for the ninth time in 10 attempts since being handed the penalty-taking responsibilities last season.

By a strange irony, his last conversion before Saturday’s injury time effort, was a last-gasp goal also against Coleraine, back in February.

Yet despite his talent for taking spot kicks, it has only come to the surface since he came to Ballymena.

“I never took penalties at Portadown - I could never get the ball off Kevin Braniff or Gary McCutcheon,” laughs Teggart, who took his personal goal tally for the season to eight at the weekend.

“Glenn told me to take a penalty one night at training and it took off from there and I’ve been on them ever since.

“What I’ve tried has worked so far so I’ll not change it.

“The only one I’ve missed was at Dungannon a couple of years ago when I tried to put it down the middle - I don’t talk too much about that one!

“Naturally there’s a bit of nerves when you step up to take a penalty, especially so late in the game, but you just have to keep your head down and get on with it.

“We were glad to get a point in the end. In the first half we couldn’t even get out of our own half because of the wind and the pitch was difficult.

“We wanted to try to get something out of the game to keep the momentum going ahead of the cup final and keep the performance levels high.”

Teggart recently became the latest Ballymena player to commit his future to Glenn Ferguson’s ongoing project when he signed a two-year extension to his contract.

“It was good to get it sorted before the end of the season and I’m delighted to sign again for Ballymena.

“It’s always difficult moving especially when you’ve been at your previous club for so long and with Portadown being my hometown club but I get on well with the players, the management is good and the facilities are top-notch at Ballymena.

“The travelling takes a bit of a toll but when you have a bunch of lads you enjoy playing with and you’re enjoying your football that’s the main thing and you don’t worry so much about the travelling issue.

“I feel since I moved to Ballymena that I’ve been able to express myself a bit better.

“At Portadown Ronnie (McFall) liked to stick to a 4-4-2 and didn’t change it too much, the way Glenn plays seems to suit me a bit better attacking-wise and I feel I’ve benefitted from that since I came to Ballymena,” adds Teggart.