Missed chances hampering United’s hopes of progress

It’s an often-used adage in football, particularly from managers, that the time to worry is not when a team isn’t scoring goals but rather when they’re not creating chances.
Ballymena United have struggled to put the ball in the net this season. Picture: Press Eye.Ballymena United have struggled to put the ball in the net this season. Picture: Press Eye.
Ballymena United have struggled to put the ball in the net this season. Picture: Press Eye.

I doubt very much if you would find too many Ballymena United supporters who would subscribe to that view at the present time.

Creating goalscoring opportunities is one thing but it counts for diddly squat if there’s no-one there to put the ball in the onion bag.

I couldn’t help but wonder to myself, as cross after cross fizzed across the face of the Warrenpoint goal on Saturday, how many of those chances would have been gobbled up by Glenn Ferguson during his playing days.

Instead, Ferguson the manager has to find a way of getting his spluttering frontline firing on ANY cylinders, never mind all of them!

There’s always a tendency to base your immediate summation on a game upon the result but with the benefit of looking back on the game at the number of chances etc, there’s no doubt Ballymena should have got something out of the game.

The performance was hard to watch, certainly, but not as hopeless as some people have made out. The same, however, could not be said of the attempts to finish off those chances, which always leaves you susceptible to the other teams hitting the target in a rare attack.

Friday night’s visit to Ballinamallard is a game which will test the mettle of both players and supporters alike.

While some people might decide, understandably, that a 200-odd mile round trip isn’t their cup of tea on a weeknight, the decision to switch the game to a Friday night means others won’t event have that choice - it will simply be impossible for people to get home from a day’s work and straight out to head to Fermanagh.

Unlike last season, when Ballinamallard kindly agreed to a switch to Friday night at relatively short notice, in order to accommodate Ballymena’s invitation to play in Holland in January, United had no input into the date switch for Friday night.

Under the current rules, provided the home team gives 31 days’ notice, they can switch to a Friday night without their opponents’ agreement and Ballinamallard exercised that right on this occasion.

Clearly they feel that the switch will attract more home fans which will in turn compensate for the loss of revenue from visiting fans who won’t be able to make it - and putting bums on seats is very much the prerogative of any home team in the Irish League.

The busload of fans who will travel to Ferney park will, in many cases, have given up an afternoon’s work and pay in order to watch their team - a point which will hopefully not be lost on the players.

Hopefully those who do make the long trip will be rewarded with a decent game and result - although with United and Ballinamallard being among the lowest scoring sides in the division, that may be a bit much to hope for.

For those people who opt to stay at home, I will have Twitter updates from the match, along with a match report on the Ballymena Times website within minutes of the final whistle - gremlins permitting!

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