Southside cruise to win

The Ballymena boys began brightly but suffered a major blow when after only 5 minutes they lost Nico Dunlop with a groin injury.

The breakthrough came on 20 minutes when Leon Bonnes made a fantastic solo run beating 4 defenders before firing into the net.

Ballyclare responded with an equaliser on 25 minutes when they broke clear of the Southside defence but this was against the run of play and the lead was restored on the half hour when Bonnes netted his second from a Ryan Corrigan cross.

After the interval, Kyle Jackson made it 3-1 when he cut in from the left to shoot home.

This was then followed by another Leon Bonnes strike to complete his hat trick, then Ryan Corrigan made it 5-1 when he shot home from the edge of the box.

Ballyclare pulled one back to make it 5-2 before a Southside corner taken by Kyle Jackson was headed into his own net by a Ballyclare defender making it 6-2.

The scoring was completed with 5 minutes left when Ryan Corrigan scored his second after a good run into the box.

Kurtis Brown in the Southside goals suffered a wrist injury in the dying minutes when saving a vicious shot from a Ballyclare striker which resulted in him having to leave the pitch.

Manager Colin Stewart now has an anxious wait to see if he will be fit for Saturday’s clash with league leaders Carrick at the Showgrounds (10.30am).

Southside: Brown, Dunlop, J Stewart, Logan, McCready, Weir, Graham, Bonnes, Balmer, R Stewart, Jackson, Corrigan, Henry, Stock, Frew, McDowell.