HOCKEY: Bratten’s Ballyclare edged out by Ballymena

A solitary second-half strike secured the points for the Braid girls, but Vikki Bratten’s side were well in the game, and felt that they deserved a division of the spoils.

“We scored what appeared to be a perfectly legitimate goal from a penalty-corner when Dee Wallace drilled the ball into the net but Ballymena claims that the shot was too high were upheld by the umpires, so we got nothing from the game,” said club PRO Sara Coulter.

During the first half the hosts had the edge at George Avenue, but they were unable to beat a busy goalkeeper who saved shots from Wallace, Bratten and Sue Dickey, while Jordan Jones just missed the target when put in behind the defence.

When the visitors threatened Jade Purdy and Caroline McGookin stood firm, so that goalkeeper Sara Coulter was not tested.

Only a fine save by the keeper prevented Rebekah Beattie from opening the scoring early in the second half, but Ballymena did better at the opposite end when they scored the decisive goal from open play.

Ballyclare Ladies’ panel: S Coulter, J Purdy, C McGookin, L Holmes, K McLeod, R Campbell, S Dickey, R Beattie, C Darragh, V Bratten (c), J Jones, D Wallace, J West, L Ashcroft, R Maybin.

Meanwhile, Parkview Ladies were scheduled to travel to Ballycastle to fulfil a Section 4 fixture, but the north Antrim girls were unable to secure a pitch so the Clare McClean’s girls will be hoping to be awarded the points.