Showdown between All Saints OBs and Homers ends in a stalemate

Homers settled the quicker of the two teams with the pace of Paul McNeill and Alan Rainey causing the Saints defence problems, but they failed to make their early dominance pay.

Darren Campbell came closest to opening the scoring on the half hour mark when his drive was tipped over by Brian Martin in the Saints goal. Six minutes before the break Homers got the break through when a corner from Ryan Stewart was only half cleared to Alan Rainey and he drilled the ball home from 18 yards out. At the other end Saints had good openings but failed to threaten Ryan Martin in the Homers goal.

Saints drew level eight minutes into the second half when Gavin Burnside slid in Philip Lynn and he raced clear and poked the ball under Ryan Martin to make it 1-1. Aidan O’Kane then fired just wide as Saints started to get on top. On 65 minutes Saints had a glorious chance to go in front when Aaron Wilkinson was left one on one with Ryan Martin but he delayed his shot and Homers got back to clear the danger. Homers took control of the game after this and threw everything at Saints but Saints defended really well with Micky McCarry, Colin Laffan and Barry Hamill excellent as Saints dug in and held on for a point.

Ahoghill Thistle 1 Carniny Rangers 4: Carniny became the first side to take league points from high flying Thistle with a comprehensive victory in Ahoghill on Saturday morning. The visiting defence knew they were in a game right from the start as David Tennant and Matt Boyd started in lively fashion for the home side. After some glimpses of goal at either end Carniny took the lead in the

26th minute when James Gracey deep in the Thistle half sent a cross to the back post where Darren Kidd was on hand to score. James Gracey was involved again in the build up to Carniny’s second in the 41st minute when he collected a short free kick from Frazer Young and split the home defence with a through ball for Darren Kidd to finish once again and send Carniny in two up at half time.

Early on in the second half Carniny made it three in the 51st minute when Mo McDowell collected the ball just inside the Thistle half and outpaced his marker before beating Chris Bradley in Thistle goal with a trademark finish. Thistle altered their shape to try and get back into the game but Carniny’s back four dealt well with their increased attacks with Richard Reid dominant in the centre of Carniny defence.

Carniny replaced Dean Magill with Dean Dunlop on the hour and the bustling striker was soon making his presence felt.

His angled run beat the offside trap before he unselfishly squared the ball to Frazer Young whose effort was well saved by Chris Bradley when it looked easier to score. Dean Dunlop then provided another opportunity for Frazer Young in the 75th minute. After shaking off a Thistle defender challenge, his pass found the teenage midfielder Frazer Young whose delicious chip from 20 yards made it four nil. To their credit Thistle continued to press and with ten minutes to play Matt Boyd’s free kick from just outside the box stung the palms of Carniny keeper Sammy Foster before they finally breached the visitors’ defence in the 82nd minute. Jason Stewart and Corey Price had been a continued threat on the left and Corey Price’s cross eventually reached David Tennant who netted from eight yards to provide some consolation on a bad day for the home team.

Shore Wanderers 2 Carnlough Swifts 1: Shore last season had a great run at the end of the season to avoid relegation and they are again battling to escape the drop this season so three points from this match against Carnlough was a great boost.

Shore started this game well and went close after 10 minutes when Ryan McNicholl went close from 10 yards. Carnlough they had a good spell for 20 minutes keeping the Shore defence busy but against the run of play Shore opened the scoring when William Brown found Ryan McNicholl who broke clear and went round the Carnlough keeper Connor McNeill to score. The visitors hit back immediately and Stephen Morgan and Paul Aiken had two great chances to score but Shore keeper Frank Neeson pulled off two saves to ensure his team went in one up at half time.

Shore keeper came to his teams rescue again when he made a brilliant save from Carnloughs Declan Diamond. Although Carnlough were well on top they were hit with a sucker punch 15 minutes from full time when Shore snatched their second goal. Aaron Scott took a free kick and found Ryan McNicholl who pulled the ball back for William Brown who was on hand to tap in from 2 yards. Carnlough got one back poor defending by Shore let in Barry McAuley who collected the ball on the edge of the penalty and curled the ball into the net to reduce the deficit to one but Shore held on to win this game and collect three precious points.

Ballymena Mortgages BSML Division Two.

Next Saturdays is the last set of fixtures before the BSML closes down for two weeks apart for the County Antrim Post O’Kane Cup Final on Boxing day so teams want to finish up well placed before the new Year and it looks like last years Division Three Champions Raceview will be top of Division Two after their 6-1 win over lowly placed Cushendall.

St Comgall’s were joint top with Raceview before Saturdays fixtures but they were held to a 1-1 draw by fifth place North End Shamrocks who are also well placed. Connor recovered from their first defeat last week with a 2-0 win over Riverdale and are 10 points behind Raceview but have 5 matches in hand. Seven Towers remain in third place after winning 5-3 at home to Cloughmills. There is a lots to play for in the New Year.

CGRSC Sammy Moore Cup 2nd Round 1st Leg.

Newpark look as they have secured a place in the Semi Finals with a convincing six nil win over Wakehurst Star. The other ties are alot closer with Glenravel having to travel to Cullybackey Olympic with a slender 3-2 lead while Galgorm Blues scored the only goal in their trip to FC Bayern Money so their home tie will also be a close affair. In the other tie Lisnafillian Swifts look favourites with a two nil win away at Steadfast so there is lots to play for in the 2nd Legs which will be played in January.