Saturday 20
December 2.30pm Kick off at Dixon Park
Ards 1 v Ballymoney United 1
Ards snatched a draw right at the death of this game with Ballymoney to maintain the club's unbeaten record at home in the league. It took until second half injury time for this game to light up - both the Ards and Ballymoney goals arrived well after time should have been called - and that about summed up the match.
The first half was terribly forgettable, played out on a quagmire of a pitch that made passing extremely difficult. One of the better moves of the half came as early as 12 minutes when some decent Ards interplay got the ball to Darren Nixon. His shot was well parried by Simon Smyth in the visitors' goal and the follow-up header from Darren Stirling didn't trouble him at all.
The next flash of excitement didn't arrive until the end of the half when Adam McKinney hit a well-drilled shot from the edge of the Ards area that keeper McDonald saved at his near post. The half ended for Ards on a worrying note as Gary Spence limped off with what appeared to be a tight hamstring.
It really was slim pickings until the break, although thankfully there was a general improvement in the second half.
Five minutes after the restart and Ballymoney forward McKinney was again causing trouble; this time he burst through and nipped around McDonald to put an inviting cross into the Ards area that none of his team-mates were able to meet.
A couple more chances followed from United over the next ten minutes.
First of all David Gage got on the end of a free kick from the right and put his connection over the bar and then, on 61 minutes, McLernon struck a well-flighted half-volley from around 35 yards that rose up over the Ards goal.
A bit of industry from Darren Fitzgerald on 65 minutes produced a cross for Jim McIlhagga but his shot was saved and then at the opposite end, McDonald was tested again by a free kick from Denver Gage.
The 85th minute saw a little spark from the Ards side as substitutes Kyle McCleery and Ricky Billing combined with Kris Pike to set up Craig McMillen, who hit a right foot shot from the left side of the box that for a second looked goal-wards, only to run a path wide of the far post.
As the game ticked on to ninety minutes an Ards free kick was put over the bar by Fitzgerald but Ballymoney quickly got the ball back into play and broke away through the centre with David Nicholl. He raced down the field towards the Ards goal and looked well positioned to trouble McDonald only to run the ball into Darren Nixon and lose possession.
United weren't done however and it was Nixon the villain in the 92nd minute when his wayward pass ran straight to Nicholl's feet 30 yards out. The forward didn't mess around this time, driving straight for goal and sending a rocket of a shot past McDonald to hit what looked like the winner.
The Ards heads could well have went down at this turn of events, coupled with the exit of Craig McMillen, who was carried off with a knee injury a minute or so later.
But there was to be one final twist in this game as Billing received a 96th minute pass into the right hand corner and delivered a peach of a cross onto the head of McIlhagga who steered in an equaliser and broke the Ballymoney hearts.
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