United showing plenty of fight - but quality is lacking

Whether, of course, that is enough to avoid a relegation struggle is another question entirely.

I feel the Irish League is sometimes dismissed with comments like “if you’re a big, strong, fit team, you’ll do OK”.

The reality is, you need to supplement those attributes with some degree of quality and that is what Ballymena are lacking in key areas at present.

The weakened United team which relinquished the club’s grip on the County Antrim Shield performed about as well as could have been expected but failing to create a single shot on goal in a semi-final is a damning statistic.

Crusaders boss Stephen Baxter also fielded an under-strength side but the difference was that his was by choice. When push came to shove, he was able to introduce match-winning players like Jordan Owens, Chris Morrow and Paul Heatley from the bench.

I suspect that if Ballymena had players of that calibre available to them, they wouldn’t be on the bench in ANY circumstances!

And so to Saturday’s thrilling game against Glentoran, which will be remembered by a lot of people for what happened after the game rather than during it.

I had to smile to myself as I walked up the tunnel for the post-match interviews, long after the dust had settled on the final whistle rumpus - that tunnel has seen more scuffles than Madison Square Gardens!

Once again, it’s a fairly damning indictment of manager Glenn Ferguson’s faith - or lack of - in his current strikers that he chooses to play skipper Allan Jenkins as a makeshift frontman.

IT’s fully justified as well - Jenkins provided more in terms of holding the ball up and winning flick-ons than any of United’s other strikers in recent weeks and he was unlucky not to score with an effort which came off the underside of the crossbar.

Ferguson made no bones about his choice of frontman, citing a lack of self-confidence among the other strikers as his reason for not starting them.

Gary Liggett’s close-range header should have given him a boost but another series of mis-kicks and missed chances won’t have done Liggett any favours as he struggles to recapture the form which made him such a hit in an ultimately-relegated Lisburn Distillery side.

Ferguson said it himself in his press conference - the league table doesn’t lie. Ballymena are third bottom on merit, with only the expected bottom two sides below them.

The Sky Blues face crucial clashes with both Ards and Warrenpoint before the end of November and if they can provide the same work ethic as in recent games, surely they will possess more quality than those two sides?

Then again, given the nature of results in the Danske Bank Premiership this season, could anyone say that with any degree of certainty?

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