First class display from United’s last line of defence

Gary Thompson fires Ballymena United's second goal under the body on Dungannon keeper Gareth Buchanan. Picture: Press Eye.

But Dwayne Nelson’s fabulous late saves were the subject of supporters’ lips as they trudged out of Stangmore Park on Saturday.

The full length spring across goal to touch Grant Hutchinson’s thunderbolt onto the crossbar fell into the ‘world class’ category and I very much doubt if there will be a better save in the Danske Bank Premiership this season - not only for the technique involved but also its importance in the context of the match.

The irony of that is that spectacular isn’t really Nelson’s style; ask any Ballymena fan to sum up their goalkeeper in one word and I suspect that ‘consistent’ would be the adjective used by most.

Under the careful tutelage of goalkeeping coach Wes Lamont, Nelson has blossomed into one of the league’s best stoppers at an age where he should be approaching his prime and his signature on a new two-year deal towards the end of last term was good work on manager Glenn Ferguson’s part.

Nelson’s heroics helped United to a vital win which means that almost half of Ballymena’s points tally to date has come at the expense of Dungannon.

It’s not so long ago that United couldn’t have bought a positive result against the Swifts, yet they seem to have had the Tyrone side’s number in recent meetings between the sides.

It’s another example of how football goes in cycles; few people remember, for example, that before Coleraine embarked on that long and still ongoing run of success against Ballymena, it had been the Sky Blues who had held the upper hand in ‘derby’ meetings for a few years previous to that.

Saturday’s win was exactly the sort of fixture in which United struggle and the importance of the three points was rubber-stamped as news of Ards’ shock win over Portadown and Warrenpoint’s near humbling of Cliftonville came through - had United not held on for victory at Stangmore Park, their already unappealing league position would have looked a whole lot more perilous.

The result also builds on a word which Ferguson has used a lot in recent weeks - momentum - and while a sudden and dramatic rise up the table seems unlikely, at least there are some hints of green shoots of recovery to lift United away from their current position.

* Follow Ballymena Times Sports Editor Stephen Alexander on Twitter (@Stephen_Bmena).