Stalemate at The Showgrounds between Newry City and Ballymena United leaves the table as it was

Newry City remain bottom of the Premiership, as they were unable to defeat Ballymena United on Friday night despite having a man advantage for 25 second half minutes.

Following the game, Newry boss Gary Boyle described it as ‘an opportunity missed’ because his side struggled to create clear-cut chances late on, despite dominating possession of the ball following the dismissal of Ballymena’s Lewis Tennant for a sliding foul on Adam Carroll.

City had two great chances in the first half, but Lorcan Forde was denied by a superb Steven McCullough block, whilst Brian Healy was thwarted by Sean O’Neill in a one on one.

At the other end, Ballymena front man Isaac Westendorf would have come away from The Showgrounds not quite sure how he didn’t hit the back of the net at least once in the opening 45 minutes. With his first chance, he got in behind the defence, but overran the ball and was tackled by Newry goalkeeper Steven Maguire; his second chance was cleared off the line by Barney McKeown; and for his third chance, he rounded Maguire but with the goal at his mercy, somehow fired wide at the near post.

In the second period, Newry controlled the ball and didn’t allow Ballymena any chances, but they themselves weren’t able to test O’Neill as much as they would have liked. The Ballymena netminder did have to make a save to keep out a McKeown header, but Newry’s other shots in the half saw Thomas Lockhart drill wide from 25 yards out and Adam Salley have a free kick blocked by the Ballymena defence.

The result means that Newry remain at the foot of the table, behind eleventh-placed Ballymena only on goal difference.

The positives are the clean sheet, a second straight result following a poor run of form, and things beginning to clear up on the injury front, with John McGovern getting a full 90 minutes and Thomas Lockhart half an hour as a substitute, whilst Ciaran O’Connor was fit enough to make the bench.

However, Newry weren’t able to claim all three points when they were on offer, and their winless home run continues.

For full match report and reaction see this week’s Newry Reporter – in shops Wednesday December 13!