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Saturday 30th September v. Dungannon Swifts (
| Uploaded Tuesday, 26th Jul, 2022 at 22:06 |
| Date: Tuesday, 26th July, 2022; Competition: Friendly; Attendance: N/A; |
| Ballyclare Comrades | [1] | [1] |
| Ballymena United | [0] | [2] |
| Venue: Dixon Park; Kick-Off: 19:45; |
| Goals: |
| [0-1] ROOHI (2 mins), [1-1] BEATTIE, Spencer (51 mins), [1-2] CLARKE, Nathan (75 mins) |
| BALLYMENA United beat Lough 41 Championship side Ballyclare Comrades at Dixon Park on Tuesday evening. |
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The goals came from Spencer Beattie and Nathan Clarke. The squad was split again as half the team headed to Tobermore whilst the other half made the short trip to Ballyclare, but in a poor start United were behind inside two minutes. A break down the right-hand side ended with a shot deflecting to Darius Roohi, who easily slotted home from close range. Seven minutes in there was a worrying moment ahead of the new season starting in under three weeks' time, as David McDaid pulled up and was forced off, being replaced by Nathan Clarke. With Ballymena still struggling to click it should've been 2-0, only for Jordan Williamson to deny a chipped effort from Roohi, before Williamson got down well to his left to keep Roohi out again. Ballymena finally began to show something towards the end of the first half as Ryan Waide was denied by Richard Purcell, before Waide found Jack Henderson who fired over. After a good stop from Purchell thwarted Waide again, he made a top drawer save with his legs to save from Clarke after a tidy move, as the half ended 1-0. The Braidmen made the ideal start to the second period as they levelled the scores four minutes in. Andrew McGrory drove down the right and slipped a ball into the path of Clarke who made his way into the box before squaring for Spencer Beattie who finished under the 'keeper. There wasn't much going on for the next fifteen minutes, with Ballymena on top for most of it, but when Clarke found Beattie again he netted, only to see the offside flag go up. With fourteen minutes to go the Sky Blues got their noses in front thanks to Clarke. Steven McCullough's ball in was misread and miscleared which allowed Clarke to stay onside, and from close range the impressive winger finished calmly. Sam Johnston had replaced Willamson at half time and after making a good stop to his left he had his work cut out when Joshua Kelly conceded a penalty with ten minutes to go. Johnston however, was up to the task as he pulled off a fantastic save from the spot kick to keep United ahead. It was almost 3-1 late on when Waide read a long ball well and found Beattie who rattled the post, but in a well contested friendly it was Ballymena who edged it to make it two wins on the night. |
| This Saturday sees another split squad, both travelling to Fermanagh to face Kesh and Lisbellaw. |
| Match Report by Paul Irwin |
| Ballymena United Team: |
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Jordan Williamson, Andrew McGrory, Craig Farquhar, Conor Keeley, Steven McCullough, Joshua Kelly, Jake Corbett, Jack Henderson, David McDaid, Spencer Beattie, Ryan Waide. Subs not used: George Tipton, Nathan Clarke, Hill, Samuel Johnston. |
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