Promising start - but sterner tests lie ahead

Rather than issue tickets for the time of the first goal, maybe United should issue a ‘Golden Criticism’ ticket.

The opening day winner would have been 14 minutes, where a misplaced pass was greeted with a loud shout of ‘rubbitch’.

I’m joking, of course, about the ticket idea and that isolated gulder from the stand didn’t detract from a fairly positive opening weekend of the season for the Sky Blues.

It was mission accomplished for Glenn Ferguson’s side with victory over Warrenpoint achieved with a level of comfort you don’t often witness at Danske Bank Premiership level.

If you were going to be ultra-critical, you could argue that United should have had the game put to bed during a 20-minute spell in the first half where they absolutely pummelled the border side, who might find their second season in the top-flight a whole lot tougher than their eye-catching first.

However, the alternative train of thought is that creating and not converting chances is less of a concern than not creating goalscoring opportunities at all.

Matthew Tipton looks an excellent addition to the frontline and with David Cushley playing a more advanced role through the centre, United look to have goals in them.

The other summer signing, Kyle McVey, slipped effortlessly into the centre of defence alongside Johnny Taylor in a no-nonsense pairing, while behind them, Dwayne Nelson’s return from injury illustrates the importance of having a regular goalkeeper between the posts. Ballymena’s season was badly hampered last year by enforced chopping and changing in that key position.

No-one will be fooled, of course, into thinking that one swallow makes a summer - much tougher tests lie in store for United, two of them this week against Crusaders and Portadown.

Also, early-season performances and results aren’t always indicative of how things will pan out by the end of the season.

United started last season on the end of an opening-day thumping by Glenavon, yet ended the campaign in the showpiece final of the season.

Few would argue if that was the ultimate outcome of this season - bar the result, of course!

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