Sky Blues avoid Titanic upset in shipbuilding heartland

Certainly the number of Ballymena United fans I met filing out of Tillysburn Park on Saturday, raising their eyebrows skywards and puffing out their cheeks in sharp outputs of breath didn’t leave much to the imagination.

It was a palpable show of relief, an indication that they had seen their side get out of jail.

In the former heartland of Northern Ireland’s shipbuilding industry, Glenn Ferguson’s side had narrowly avoided a Titanic upset.

Just four minutes stood between Ballymena United and another chapter in the story of cup humiliations at the hands of then ‘B’ Division Dungannon Swifts, Brantwood and Kilmore Rec.

Given Ballymena’s current position in the Danske Bank Premiership, elimination in the opening hurdle might not have had the same meltdown effect as in previous years, but a failure to maintain interest in the Blue Riband knockout event beyond January would still have been a significant blow.

If you thought seeing a shadow United side scrape past Ballymoney United in the League Cup earlier this season was a close shave, then seeing a full-strength Ballymena line-up come within minutes of elimination at the hands of a tidy Harland & Wolff Welders outfit must have nicked the skin entirely.

It’s an often used adage by Glenn Ferguson that in cup matches, the only thing that matters is having your name in the draw for the next round by the end of it.

There’s certainly a lot of truth in that. To go back to that League Cup game earlier in the season, Ballymena could have been out on their ear yet ended up reaching the semi-final and probably should be planning for the final at the end of this month.

At the weekend, it would be easy to blame a pitch, whose humps and hollows bore as much resemblance to a golf course fairway and an early kick-off which completely knocked my body clock out of sync for the rest of Saturday!

The reality is, too many of the players who have been instrumental in Ballymena’s recent revival simply didn’t perform and the Sky Blues are fortunate to have earned another chance to put that right.

The replay is an extra game that Ballymena could do without, but given the alternative of being dumped out of the Irish Cup, a second helping doesn’t seem like such a bad alternative.

Darren Boyce has earned himself instant cult status with Ballymena fans, after completing a move which hasn’t been everyone’s cup of tea, while Jim Ervin showed enough in his time on the pitch on Saturday to suggest that he will be a shrewd signing by Ferguson.

Before Ballymena can think about that cup replay, there are ‘cup finals’ of a different kind on the horizon, with nine league games - the first of them tonight at Dungannon - standing between United and a top six place that would represent meaningful progress in this compelling campaign.

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