Spoils were shared at Adams Park on Saturday between Ards and Abbey Villa, 1-1 the score - just as it has been for the past two seasons.

Ards fielded a strong side, albeit one missing Fitzgerald, Dickson, Nixon and Pike while Villa had on display four former Ards players, among them Marty Hunter.

Trialist Stephen Doyle started up front for Ards and it was his hard work in the 7th minute that led to the first chance. He doggedly chased down a ball, was fortunate in getting a touch and then supplied a good cross, hard and low, that unfortunately no Ards team-mate could get on the end of.

The young striker had a go himself minutes later when a pass from McIlhagga put him the clear but his shot was pulled fairly wide across the goal in the end.

Ards took the lead on 15 minutes when new signing Dee Irvine chased a long pass from Gary Wray into the Villa box. The former Bangor man never once looked like backing down and skillfully evaded the advancing keeper to score.

A combination of Doyle and Irvine produced Ards' next chance on 27, when Irvine crossed for Darren Stirling, but he just couldn't jump high enough to catch the flight of the ball. McDonald in the Ards goal hadn't seen too much of the ball by this stage and he was scarcely troubled again as Johnny Nixon fired over the bar on 33 minutes.

The chance of the half then arrived with four minutes remaining as Wray knocked a cross over for David Cully. He energetically kept the ball in the play, subsequently crossing back in for Stirling, who fairly blazed the ball over from four or five yards.

Half-time saw the introduction of Aaron McKee, as well as Craig Rutherford and, as is customary with these type of games, the second half was littered with other changes that seriously disrupted the flow of the game.

On the field, a decent chance opened up for Doyle on 50 minutes as he showed good pace to chase down a long forward pass and get a shot off from just inside the area that the keeper held comfortably.

Villa finally put a mark on the game in the 70th minute when Marty Hunter's close play drew a rash challenge from James Wilson and the home side were rightly awarded a penalty kick. One time Ards striker Gary Sharratt stepped up to take and made no mistake as he finished strongly to McDonald's left.

Others joining the action around this time included Alula Paris and Lee Mudd, who tested the Villa keeper with a shot from 25 yards a few minutes after coming on.

On 76 minutes Craig McMillen showed excellent effort to ease past two defenders on the left side and supply a cross for substitute Karl Hogg, who hit the crossbar with a well directed header.

Ards had decent shouts for their own penalty shortly after when Thomas Gorman was upended and that non-decision ultimately led to the dismissal of James Wilson, who said a word out of turn to the referee.

1 Andy McDonald (c)
4 Gary Spence	19 James Wilson		2 Gary Wray
14 David Cully			7 Craig McMillen
16 James Wright	5 Jimmy McIlhagga		6 Dee Irvine
9 Darren Stirling		10 Stephen Doyle
Dee Irvine 15

	11 Aaron McKee (for McIlhagga h/t), 12 Karl Hogg (for Irvine 73), 15 Alula Paris (for Doyle 67), 17 Lee Mudd (for Wright 67), 18 Thomas Gorman (for Stirling (for 59), 20 Craig Rutherford (for Cully (h/t)
	David McCartney

18th July 2009

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