Why a testing September might prove the making of United’s season

Just three points from five league games meant that United failed to reach the dizzy heights of August, with a County Antrim Shield quarter-final win over Cliftonville providing the brightest spot.

Yet in a perverse way, Glenn Ferguson may have learned more about his team in September than he did in his side’s table-topping opening month of the campaign.

It’s often said that you learn more in defeat than you do in victory and Ballymena had to face adversity on a number of occasions in the past four weeks.

And with the glaring exception of the ‘derby’ debacle against Coleraine, United, more often that not, came up with the right answer to some testing questions.

Think back to the ending of that long unbeaten run at Solitude; the stirring comeback from 3-0 down at home to Donegal Celtic; the medium-term loss of inspirational skipper Allan Jenkins through injury; and then consider the heroic effort to rescue a point in Friday night’s game against Glentoran, which must rank as one of the best fixtures seen at the Warden Street venue in recent years.

If you believe in the old maxim of things evening themselves out over the course of a season, Gary Thompson’s stoppage time equaliser was virtually instant payback for conceding a leveller in identical circumstances in the home game against Dungannon just a couple of weeks earlier.

The Sky Blues showed enough by way of endeavour, commitment and character to suggest that the Coleraine catastrophe was a one-off – if very untimely – aberration.

There’s certainly a never-say-die attitude about this group of players – one which, I suspect, has been gradually ingrained in them by a management team whose lengthy playing careers at Linfield will have meant that throwing in the towel before the final whistle is blown is simply not an option.

That is going to an important attribute for a panel of players which, for all their honest endeavours, looks short of regular match-winning quality in a number of key areas.

It certainly proved crucial in Friday night’s match and while Thompson will draw the plaudits for his late equaliser, it was nice to hear United’s players emerge from the dressing room hailing the exploits of keeper Dwayne Nelson.

The goalkeeper has been a model of consistency since cementing his place in the early stages of Ferguson’s reign and it was his late block from Andy Waterworth which prevented it from being game, set and match to the Glens and gave United the impetus to go up the field and grab that late equaliser.

On such moments hinge the outcome of games and this one just had the feel of the type of match which was going to have a dramatic finale.

Thompson’s goal produced wonderful scenes of celebration in the home stand – even if there was some doubt at first glance as to who had actually struck the decisive blow!

The midfielder’s performances – not to mention his eye for goal – have shown exactly why Ferguson pursued his signature so vigorously in the summer and his ability to chip in with goals is going to be vital in a team which the manager has already stated is missing an out-and-out ‘number nine’.

Further tests lie ahead in October and the following months, but the lessons learned in September might very well stand United in good stead.

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