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.
