Ballynahinch in doldrums after derby own goal

Ballynahinch in doldrums after derby own goal

19 September 2012 - by BY DAVID TELFORD

BALLYNAHINCH United entertained their local rivals in this league game at Millbridge on Saturday and had to settle for a share of the spoils.

The two sides had met almost a month ago with United winning by a clear margin at Saintfield, but in this reverse fixture things were not made so easy with the visitors in much more resilient mood.

Saintfield United’s excellent win last week against Division 1A side Barn United in the Steel and Sons Cup meant that they were coming off the back off a good result.

It was United who were in the ascendancy in the early stages of this game scoring in the 25th minute through Ross Hayes and also hitting both the crossbar and post.

Stuart McMullan had a goal ruled out for offside, but few in the ground agreed with the referee’s decision. In the second half Saintfield were a far better proposition and restricted United’s scoring opportunities to a couple of long range efforts.

United’s inability to get a second goal, which would likely have killed the game off, came back to haunt them when with ten minutes to go Ross Hayes had the misfortune of turning the ball into his own net for Saintfield’s equaliser. 

United will have been disappointed that they did not play better and would have hoped to have taken all three points, particularly at home, but they have managed to remain unbeaten for a number of weeks and will hope to take this good fortune into their next match away to Ballywalter Recreation on Saturday.

• Ballynahinch Swifts travelled away for the second match in a row, but their performance was much better than the previous weeks as they rattled in six against Kilroot Rec IIs. Goals from Darren Fitzsimmons (3), Alan Massey (2) and Aaron McCaffrey gave them a 6-2 win. This week the Swifts entertain Colin Valley IIs in a league fixture at the Millbridge.

Final score: Ballynahinch United 1 Saintfield United 1