This week seen us travel up to Clarendon Park to play Shankill United and get back to winning ways after a narrow defeat last week.
The pitch was very heavy and there was no way to see the centre circle never mind the centre spot, the referee was happy enough to let the match go ahead and we got back in the rhythm by doing what we have been doing on late and scoring early. In the second minute we were 1 : 0 up when Jack Patterson went one on one with the keeper only for the keeper to pull off a wonderful save and tuck the ball round his post for a corner; Matthew Guest took the corner and up popped Bradley McCourt from the back to head the ball into the net. Jack Patterson had to glorious chances to put the game out of sight in the next ten minutes but again the Shankill keeper was in tremendous form. Then in the 15th minute a very unusual mistake in our defence gave the ball away on the edge of their box and Shankill equalised 1 : 1. We kept our heads up and again were unfortunate not to take the lead then on the 20th minute Shankill got a corner and a super header saw them take the lead for the first time to go 2 : 1 up but credit to Ards they didn't stop and deservedly got the equaliser a minute later again Matthew guest was the provider and Andrew Graham had pushed forward from the back and riffled the ball into the net to make the score 2 : 2 at half time.
Half time team talk was simple stop playing the ball over the top all the time and start passing it about and look for the splitting pass.
Half time sub was made Matthew Cunningham came on to replace Marcus Baron then 2 minutes into the second half we were back in front and the team talk seemed to work when Stuart Graham found Jack Patterson with a great through ball and Jack went on to put the ball in the back of the net 3 : 2 Ards. We certainly were the only team creating in the second half and dominated the second half from start to finish. Reece Atkinson came on in the 50th minute to replace the hard working Ryan Hannah who was very unlucky not to score and should've had a penalty award when he was through on goal only to be tackled from behind and down he went but ref said no penalty. Goal number 4 came in the 55th minute when Bradley McCourt carried the ball out of defence and the found Stuart Graham with a wonderful pass and Stuart went on to score to make it 4 : 2. A minute later victory was all but secured when Jack Patterson got his second of the match, Jai Sykes launched a massive kick from his box the ball bounced over the defenders head and Jack needed no invite to race past him collect the ball and hammer it into the net 5 : 2. Alex Majury came on for Noah Crenshaw who had put a great performance in and Stuart Hannah came on for Jack Patterson who had gave it his all and grabbed another two goals and Bradley Clarke came on for Stuart Graham who had another powerful game in midfield. Three minutes to go and we had yet another corner this time Matthew Guest Floated the corner over to the back post and Alex Majury run in to volley the ball into the net to make it 6 : 2 but the game wasn't over as 1 minute into added time the ref awarded us a free kick 25 yards out, yes you can guess the rest Matthew Guest stepped up and hit one of his trade mark free kicks into the top left hand corner of the net, full time 7 : 2 to the bravehearts of Ards.
Manager’s comments: An all round good team performance but must learn to communicate with each other more. I have to say Jack Hare finish the match as if he had just went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson, he had a excellent game keeping Shankill big striker at bay which he did all match and as the striker got more frustrated he resorted to knocking Jack about a bit which he eventually got booked for, but Jack every time got up and brushed himself down and got on with the match.
