Hockey men taught harsh lesson by clinical Portrush

Although this was the first time the two sides had met in the league, this season, it was Ballymena had come out on top when they met a few weeks back in a Sussex cup tie.

Ballymena started well and managed to contain the early threat posed by the Portrush forwards.

For their part, the visitors were marking the Ballymena midfield quite aggressively and certainly looked the more competitive of the two sides.

After a short passage of play the hosts seemed to give up possession of the ball way too easily and Portrush had found some inspiration at the front.

The visitors were now carving through the Ballymena defence with pace and accuracy and although the Ballymena keeper came off the line in an attempt to close down the attack but the ball was duly dispatched to the back of the net.

The touch paper had been lit and the visitors were simply stronger, faster and more incisive.

Portrush managed to add a further three goals to their tally before half time without reply from Ballymena to leave the score 0-4.

Ballymena were now struggling with their game and although wilting under pressure, the hosts did manage a few tenuous sorties into the Portrush half after the break.

It was the visitors though who had built up the momentum and following a controversial sending off, for Ballymena, their game collapsed completely.

Portrush took advantage of their numerical advantage and added insult to injury with a further two goals before the final whistle.

Ballymena: E Hampton, A Bell, A Crooks, C Hogg (capt.) A Shields, M O’Neill, M Monteith, E Archer, D Bradley, C Fulton, V Orr, T Lowry, A Lorimer.

LADIES

Ballymena 3, Ballyclare 0: Ballymena piled on the pressure right from the off with the forwards worked the ball up the pitch from a pass back with Rebekah Reynolds, Aimee Logan and Clare Gillespie spearheading the attack.

The trio were ably assisted by Sarah Jayne Goodrich who coolly slotted her first attempt past the unsuspecting keeper.

Grace McBurney and Catherine McCracken had claimed both wings and, as Suzi Morrison and Zoe Dickson were dominating the midfield it wasn’t long before Ballymena had slotted a second goal in the back of the Ballyclare net, this time from a short corner. The honours had went to Susanne Morrison who gratefully received a pin point pass from Rebekah Reynolds, to give Ballymena the advantage at half time.

Following the restart Ballyclare came out all guns blazing and, for a time, Ballymena were forced to defend the midfield with slightly more vigour than had been the case in the first half.

The Ballyclare goalie proved a formidable last line of defence and it was unfortunate for Ballyclare when she was deemed to have held the ball for too long and was penalised.

The resulting penalty stroke was duly slotted home by Clare Gillespie in the bottom left corner.

Ballymena: E. Leslie, G. McBurney, S. Morrison, Z. Dickson, C. McCracken, J. Duncan, S. Goodrich, A. Hempsey, A. Logan, R. Reynolds, C. Gillespie, K. Young.