Our home game against St. Patrick’s was to be played at Hydebank with a 9am kick off. We arrived at Hydebank only for the Referee to inform us our pitch was unplayable but pitch 6 was available, even though it is a very small pitch both teams agreed to play the match.
We started the game very slow and found ourselves 0 : 2 down in 11minutes but all credit to the boys they picked themselves up and had a go. We pulled a goal back in the 18th minute when Joel Hill won the ball in midfield played the ball out to the left for left back Jordan Mulholland to get on to he went forward and from 25 yards out hit a superb low shot into the back of the net for his first goal in Ards colours and make it 1 : 2. We were now starting to give St. Pats some trouble and we got a well-deserved equaliser three minutes later, this time Matthew Guest launched a long through into the box which the defence failed to clear and Joel Hill put the ball in the back of the net to make it 2 : 2. We were certainly creating chances now and were unfortunate not to take the lead on several occasions but 3 minutes from half time St. Pats hit us on the counter attack to go in at half time with the lead.
HALF TIME: 2 : 3
We got off to the perfect start and within a minute we were level again, Reece Atkinson sent over a corner which the goalkeeper failed to hold and Joel Hill was on hand to tap the ball into the net to make it 3 : 3. Then 6 minutes later we were behind again and it seemed to go downhill from that point on as we drifted out of the match and failed to get back into it.
FULL TIME: 3 : 7
Mangers Comments:
We had some good moments in this game but we need to remember the match lasts 70 minutes and we certainly lack stamina to last 70 minutes. We lost this match in the final 20 minutes and the scoreline doesn’t justify our performance. So boys we need to work harder in the final stages of a match and midfield need to remember that you have the hardest job to work forward and back.
