Wakehurst blow three-goal lead at Ballymoney

Wakehurst boss Ian Gregg said his side had “snatched a draw from the jaws of victory” after blowing a three-goal lead in Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Ballymoney United.
Wakehursts Paul Muir stretches to clear his lines during Saturdays draw at Ballymoney.Wakehursts Paul Muir stretches to clear his lines during Saturdays draw at Ballymoney.
Wakehursts Paul Muir stretches to clear his lines during Saturdays draw at Ballymoney.

Wakehurst had looked set to follow up their victory at Portstewart the previous week after goals from Conor Gregg, Jason Paul and Paul Muir had established a comfortable cushion after 54 minutes.

But the Ballymena men allowed their opponents a way back into the game to resuce an unlikely point.

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“A draw at Ballymoney in itself isn’t a bad result but the circumstances in which it came about made it feel like a heavy defeat - the dressing room was like a mrgue afterwards.” said Gregg.

“You have to give credit to Ballymoney because once they got it back to 3-2, they played with an impetus that we didn’t match.”

Ballymoney’s fightback began when Gerry Gillan finished off the best move of the match, heading past Macauley Cairns on 62 minutes.

The doubts were clearly evident on the faces of the Wakehurst players and to make matters worse they were guilty of not putting the game out of sight on 68 minutes when Conor Gregg burst clear, drew 
keeper Moore off his line, but went for goal himself when his strike partner Jason Paul would have had an open net.

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Instead, a minute later the score was 3-2 as Gillan slotted in his second.

Wakehurst looked as though they would hang on until keeper Cairns needlessly grasped the ball just outside the 18-yard box three minutes from time, earning himself a yellow card and handing Ballymoney a free-kick in a promising position.

Eoin Gillan took the free-kick and Diarmuid Larkin got the vital touch to earn his team a draw that looked highly unlikely just half an hour earlier.

Wakehurst: M Cairns, G Gilmore, P Muir, D Stevenson, C Rodgers, M Crawford, A Laughlin, J Lemon, C Gregg, J Paul, R Gregg. Subs: M Maybin, C Ross, D Kirkwood, D Gage, C Allen.