Ladies lose top spot after Queen's defeat

Ballymena have enjoyed a run of 3 wins lately but knew that this would be a difficult game.

However, the Ballymena defence managed to hold out from the pressure until the end of the first half. This was due to strong performances from Katherine Allen, Beth Dinsmore, Suzanne Bell and Mary Glass but Queens took full advantage of their speed up front and opened the scoring just before half time with a well-worked goal from open play.

In the second half the Ballymena girls were determined to equalise but unfortunately Queen's started strongly, finding gaps in the Ballymena defence and scoring three more goals in a short space of time.

After this Ballymena began to play their own style of hockey and undoubtedly played very well for the final 20 minutes.

This hard work was rewarded when Aimee Logan scored from a penalty corner in the closing minutes of the game. This goal was no less than the hardworking Ballymena team deserved but a disappointing result none the less.

Player of the match: Mary Glass

Ballymena: E Leslie (GK), S Bell, M Glass, K Allen, B Kernohan (Capt.), R Reynolds, A Logan, K Aiken, SJ Goodrich, D Alexander, N Harkness, J Dickson.

Ballymena III 1, Dungannon II 2: Two early errors by the Thirds saw them always on the back foot against their opposition in this First Round Plate match.

Having been narrowly beaten 1-0 away to Dungannon this season in their own league it was a game Ballymena should have fancied their chances in.

It was blow then when, from the pass back, Dungannon raced up the pitch and registered their first goal in the opening minute.

Ballymena came back strongly though, and with penetrating runs down both right and left sides of the pitch Judith Doyle and Lauren Kennedy created some good scoring opportunities, which were thwarted by great keeping from the Dungannon goalie.

It was against this sustained pressure that Dungannon broke again and scored their second.

It was a consolation however in the last minutes of play when Player of the Match Mandy McCombe stepped up to take a shot from a short corner won by Jayne Gaston. McCombe made no mistake as she slammed the ball past the keeper, much to the delight of the watching crowd, which included her two young sons.

Thirds: R McCandless, J McDonald, S Russell, H Russell, A Harbinson, G McBurney, M McCombe, L Kennedy, J Sutherland, J Harper, J Doyle, J Gregg, A Caldwell.

MEN

Omagh 1, Ballymena 2: Ballymena travelled to Omagh to play only their second competitive match in eight weeks.

Most of the play in the first 15 minutes was in the Omagh half as Ballymena retained possession well and attacked down the flanks. One of these sorties down the left led to the first chance of the game only for the Omagh keeper to save well from Allison with Law's rebound hitting the post.

Ballymena came out for the second half up beat knowing if they remained patient and composed in the final third the goals would come.

Again the midfield four of Shields, McKeown, Law and Bell were causing the Omagh side major problems. This eventually led to the first goal of the game as McKeown linked well with Vergee to get into the "D", and with great skill beat two Omagh defenders before cooling dinking over the Omagh keeper.

The second goal came from a well worked short which saw Hogg pick out Andrew Bell for a tap in at the back post.

Omagh's goal came from a break when a long ball out of defence deflected off a Ballymena stick wrong footing the Ballymena back four. The Omagh forward then beat McDonald before slotting home early under the advancing Shaw.

Ballymena: G Shaw (GK), D McDonald (Capt.), A Bell, T Alexander, G Tumilson C Hogg, M Allison, D Holmes, S Law, P McKeown, J Gibson, A Shields, M Vergee.

Mossley VI 3, Ballymena II 3: Ballymena Seconds showed great fight to earn a draw with Mossley Sixths on an unfamiliar water-based pitch.

Ballymena started off well in the first 15 minutes but all the applied pressure came to no avail until well through the first half when a perfectly placed ball fell to Matthew Corbett allowing him to hammer the ball towards goal. The Mossley Goalkeeper reacted well to clear the initial shot, which fell straight to Mark Monteith's stick, whose reaction shot gave Ballymena the lead.

Unfortunately all the hard work and determination began to slip away and Mossley fought back with their long hitting game. Ballymena relying heavily on Alistair Gibson, who is on a run of incredible form, tried their best to pick up the fight again, but Mossley converted a pass from the top of the D which was roofed on the full by the Mossley forward at the back post, leaving Gibson no chance.

In the dying minutes of the first half an adjudged 'deliberate stick tackle' from stalwart defender Hanna, led to a penalty flick which was converted to leave the half time score 2-1 to Mossley.

The half time team talk and confidence boost, worked wonders as within 2 minutes of the 2nd half Ballymena had levelled the scores. A brilliant ball from William Barr was pushed to on form Matthew Corbett who struck the ball only for the keeper to deflect it to veteran forward Moody, who used the same cobra like instincts seen last week at North down to hammer the ball home for the equalizer.

Late in the second half Mark Monteith was able to find himself in a goal scoring position and slotted the ball home for Ballymena's third.

Ballymena kept going until the end but poor defensive marking led to Mossley equalizing with the game ending in a 3-3 draw. Ballymena Men’s Seconds would like to thank Trevor Topping for umpiring a difficult and aggressive game.

Seconds: A Gibson (GK), R Smyth, A Hanna (Capt.), S Bali, C McMeekin, J Russell, P Moody, M Corbett, A Jackson, W Barr, W Montgomery, M Monteith.