Late goal denies Ballymena ladies victory in ‘derby’ encounter

From the start ballymena knew they were in for a tough ‘derby’ but they rose to the challenge winning two consecutive penalty corners after only 4 minutes.

Larne were unlucky not to take the lead in the first half and, but for the heroics of Emma Leslie, the hosts could very well have been facing a deficit at half time.

At the start of the second half Ballymena were caught off guard by the frantic efforts of the Larne forwards. The visitors worked the ball with skill and precision the full length of the pitch and managed to sneak the ball behind the Ballymena keeper despite her best efforts.

A great display of attacking hockey by the formidable partnership of Sarah Jane Goodrich and Jessica Duncan afforded the hosts a penalty corner. To their credit Larne defended proficiently and mounted a counter attack of their own which forced some sterling defending, on the left, from Ann Hempsey, Zoe Dickson and Catherine McCracken which forced Larne onto the back foot.

Step up Grace McBurney who, with pace and spirit, managed to carve through the Larne defense and squeeze the ball through to Suzi Morrison. A one touch flick from Morrison in turn afforded Sarah Jane Goodrich the opportunity to slip the ball past the unsuspecting Larne keeper, 1-1 with 14 minutes to go!

As play continued Ballymena, with the bit between their teeth now, won a penalty stroke which Aimee Logan duly converted to afford Ballymena the lead.

Unfortunately for the hosts though a lapse in concentration, in the dying embers of this tie, cost the Ballymena the victory as Larne managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat.

Ballymena: E Leslie, S Morrison, S Allen, G McBurney, Z Dickson, C McCracken, A Hempsey, S Goodrich, J Duncan, C Gillespie, A Logan, R Reynolds, L Kennedy. Player of match: Emma Leslie.

MEN

Ballymena II 2, Annadale V 2: The visitors’ early efforts were rewarded midway through the first half when a speculative shot towards the Ballymena goal was deflected in off the stick of McDowell as he stretched to block the pass to an isolated Annadale forward.

As the half drew to close, the hosts reaped the reward for the period of pressure they had brought to bear on the Annadale defense.

In a pacey breakaway run that saw Monteith set Moody up for a one on one with the Annadale keeper his initial reverse flick rebounded off the keeper’s pads straight into the path of Moody again, who this time finished off with a clinical strick to restore parity as the half time whistle blew.

In the second half both teams attempted to close play down quickly in the mid field as they searched for a second goal.

This was to come sooner than Ballymena would have liked despite the best efforts of Archer and Bradley, as Annadale took the lead again from a simple strike inside the circle. Finally Ballymena’s chance to draw level again came in the form of a goalmouth scramble that saw the schoolboy Brendan Wenban slip the ball under the Annadale keeper for a delightful debut goal!

Ballymena would like to thank Davy Lorimer and Becky Reynolds for umpiring the game for both teams.

Seconds: J Birrell(GK) P McDowell, D Bradley, E Archer, A Hanna(C) D Wenban, B Wenban, W Barr, M Allison, P Moody, J Gibson, M Monteith.