We travelled yet again for a home tie to Henry Jones for an 11am Kick Off, with Regular Goalkeeper Jai Sykes away on Holiday a few changes were made.
Jack Patterson was our sand in Keeper for this match and the boys hit the ground running, we were one up in the first minute when Rory Nelson bombed down the right wing sending over a cross the was half cleared to the edge of the box, Noah Crenshaw reacted sharply sending a thunderous shot into the back of the net; 1 : 0 Ards. Two minutes later we had the chance to double our lead when Stuart Hannah found himself free in the box but the keeper pulled of a wonderful save to deny him but the rebound found its way to Brandon McFerranoutside the box but he saw his effort go just past the post. We were playing some lovely football and did double our lead in the 12th minute again the supply came from Rory Nelson on the right, this time he sent over a low ball and Stuart Hannah who has been in good form lately read it nicely sliding in at the back post to put the ball in the net; 2 : 0 Ards. We were now looking comfortable but knowing how good Newington were we had to keep this work rate going. Then two minutes from half time Newington were reduced to 10 men when their No.10 was show a second yellow card immediately followed by the inevitable Red card.
HALF TIME; 2 : 0
We had to keep the boys focused and importantly calm for the second half as it was now in our own hands or so we thought when in the 9th minute of the second have the Referee awarded Newington a penalty for hand ball, this was in my eyes a poor decision as the shot was straight at Travis and his hands never left his side, there was know way he could have got out of the way, Newington converted the penalty to half the deficit giving them a new lease of life; 2 : 1 Ards. We seemed to have dropped our levels in the second half allowing Newington to get back into this match. Then in the 53rd minute we were dealt another blow when Stuart Hannah who was having a good game had to come of with a knee injury, so Corbyn Gallagher finally made his debut in Ards colors. Newington grabbed the equiliser in the 62nd minute when our defence went to sleep; 2 : 2 all square but Ards immediately went straight back up the pitch and scored, this time the supplier of the last two goalsRory Nelson would be the scorer when Noah Crenshaw found him with the pass Rory made no mistake and smashed his shot passed the keeper; 3 : 2 Ards. Another blow for Newington came in the 66th minute when their No. 8 was shown a second yellow card for a late tackle and this was followed by the Red card leaving Newington to see out the remainder of the match with nine men. Surely now we would see out the match even though we were below par in this second half. Then came the sucker punch two minutes from the end when the Referee awarded a free kick to Newington on the edge of the box which they scored from to square up the match again at 3 : 3. The Referee indicated that there would be two minutes of added time and with a minute remaining it looked as if we had grabbed the winner when Rory Nelson found himself one on one with the keeper but the keeper pulled of an excellent save to give his team a share of the spoils.
FULL TIME; 3 : 3
Managers Comments:
A very good first half but on the other hand a very poor second half. To through away a two goal lead and then get back in front against nine men we should have seen it out but we didn't. You all know your second half performance let you's down, we need to work on it.
