Wednesday
30th July 7.30pm Kick off at Mid Ulster Arena Cookstown
Cookstown 3 - 4 Ballymoney United
Ballymoney
played their final warm up game on the 3g pitch at Cookstown and
found it extremely tough going against a hard working home side. The
home team made all the running early on and took the lead against a
shell shocked toon backline when the Cookstown striker finished well
from the edge of the box. This sparked Ballymoney into life and they
got back on level terms when Gareth McLaughlin struck from 20 yards
giving the home keeper no chance.
After 20 minutes Cookstown lifted the pace
and went ahead when a neat move culminated in the striker again
finishing well from the edge of the box, they quickly raced into a 3
- 1 lead when a long ball was chased down and finished well. At this
stage Ballymoney had great cause for concern and were relieved when
Denver Gage reduced the deficit to bring the score back to 3 - 2 at
the interval.
After some stern words at half time
Ballymoney came out with all guns blazing and a fast flowing move
ended with Eoin Hudson thundering a shot off the underside of the
cross bar to draw the teams level. Ballymoney then made a number of
subs and the fresh legs proved vital as the home side seamed to
struggle with the pace and movement of the toon youngsters.
Lee McClelland put Ballymoney ahead with
an excellent finish and in truth the toon never looked like losing
and indeed should have extended the lead.
Ballymoney will know that they need a vast
improvement in performance if they are to take anything from the
Championship opener at the weekend against Coagh, but with the
quality that exists within the squad they will be quietly confident
that they can secure all three points.
