Walker admits luck was 'on his side'

BALLYMENA United boss Roy Walker admits his side got out of jail on Saturday after holding on to earn a replay against Ards following a tense 0-0 stalemate at The Showgrounds.

Tommy Kincaid’s Championship outfit created the more clear cut chances, particularly in the second half, and Sky Blues manager Walker said afterwards he felt fortunate to have been offered a second crack of the whip tomorrow evening (kick-off 7.45pm).

The replay had been scheduled to take place at Dixon Park but will now be played at The Showgrounds as work is being carried out at the Ballyclare venue.

“With 15 minutes of the game to go, I said I would take a draw and get out of it, because if anyone looked as though they were going to score it was Ards,” he said.

“I posed the question why did Reading beat Liverpool and why did Leeds beat Manchester United - is it because they have more ability? No, so it had to be something to do with our approach to the game.

“You have to go and make things happen and I don’t think we made enough happen in the game,” Walker surmised.

“For the opening 15 minutes of the second half everything was played in our left-back area and it was brutal. There was a lecture of hard words given out post-match and we’ll be here on Monday night trying to correct things.

“When we did get chances, everything went over the bar. So I feel rather fortunate; I feel that we had an escape today and there’s not much more we can add to that.

“Our ‘keeper was the best player we had. Thankfully we have an option of changing the team around for the replay because we have players available again.”

Walker gave an honest assessment of Ards’ gritty performance and conceded luck had been on the home team’s side, with ‘keeper Sean O’Neill making a series of crucial save to repel the visitors.

“I thought Ards played well. They did a good job and should be pleased with their performance. I would like to give credit to the opposition, but I know we can play better.

“I feel we had that overused word ‘luck’ desert us at the beginning of the season when we were losing games we should have been winning, but I felt we got the majority of that luck back today.

“I believe we will do better on Tuesday night.”

Ards manager Kincaid felt his players could have won the game with a bit more composure on the ball in front of goal.

“We opened them up at the back at times and with a bit more luck and composure maybe we could have had one or two.

“It was a great result from the club’s point of view. We’re going to have a good gate on Tuesday night and that will help the club financially.

“I thought we did really well and created a few chances and on a different day we could have scored one or two,” he said.

“They had a couple of chances themselves but overall I think we are a bit unlucky not to be in the next round.

“No one gave us a chance coming here and I told the boys to go out and play their normal game and I thought they worked really hard, so all credit to the players.

“You could say we were a wee bit unlucky not to finish the game in the next round, but we’re looking forward to Tuesday night.”

Kincaid believes Ards’ performance on Saturday may have sown the seeds of doubt in Ballymena’s minds ahead of tomorrow night’s replay.

“I think we’ve showed that we can win the game on Tuesday night and that’s in the back of their heads, but we know they are a good side,” he said.

“The players haven’t been able to train a lot and you could see that towards the end of the game, so all credit to them that they played the way they did and got the result.”

In the first half Ards’ Aaron McKee fired over the bar on 11 minutes. For Ballymena, Nathan McConnell raced into the box after picking up Aaron Stewart’s pass, but his shot was blocked. Moments later Kevin Kelbie’s effort was saved by Andrew McDonald.

Eleven minutes from the break, Ards’ James Wright hit a powerful volley that was stopped by O’Neill.

In the second half, Craig McMillen latched onto Paul Dickson’s pass and unleashed a rasping drive that produced a stunning diving save from O’Neill as Ards almost broke the deadlock.

Nine minutes later Darren Sterling went close for the visitors, and in the 74th minute Kincaid’s side almost found the breakthrough when Wright’s free-kick was headed downwards by David Cully, who was denied by the legs of the sprawling O’Neill in the Ballymena goal.

Kelbie blasted over for the hosts and with five minutes of normal time remaining, Sterling again tested O’Neill, the Ballymena keeper turning the Ards player’s shot around the post as the game ended in a scoreless draw.

The winners of tomorrow night’s replay will face either Glebe Rangers or Ballinamallard in the sixth round.

BALLYMENA: O’Neill, Smith, Colligan, Haveron, Watson, Surgenor (G Stewart 65), Cushley (Carson 65), A Stewart, McConnell (McNeill 81), Kelbie, Lockhart. Unused subs: Nelson, Deans.

ARDS: McDonald, Cully, Nixon, Spence, Pike, Wright, McMillen, Dickson, Stirling, Fitzgerald, McKee. Unused subs: Doyle, Gorman, Wilson, Rutherford.

Referee: Mark Courtney (Dungannon)