There were just twenty-eight seconds on the clock when Ballyclare began their rout that would send an unimpressive Ards team crashing out of the Steel & Sons Cup.

Four further strikes followed that opener from Michael Smith and although an Ards rally late on in the second half saw them pull back two goals, there would be no papering over the cracks of this below par performance - the second in two weeks.

A couple of missing cornerstones for Ards meant boss Tommy Kincaid was forced into changes and he brought back Stephen Johnston and Gary Clifford, neither of whom had featured for the side in the last month. Kris Pike slotted into left-back to cover Johnny Cleary, who had missed training with flu this week while Clifford played wide right.

Few fans would have been settled into their seats when Ballyclare took the lead; the culmination of a David Frayne run into the box seeing Smith meet the ball at the back post and smash into the roof of the net. On 16 minutes a break from Frayne on the left saw him cut into the Ards box and drag an inviting cross along the face of the Ards goal - relief for the visitors however that no Comrades player was quite up with play.

Ards' first look at their opponents goal came on 22 minutes when a cross swung in from Nixon found the head of Darren Stirling and his effort was pushed away for a corner by goalkeeper Ian Mannus, one of three former Ards-men in the Ballyclare team. A further chance followed for Ards six minutes later when a Ballyclare free kick was cleared out of the Ards defence to Stirling. He broke away and fed the ball to Ricky Billing whose through ball seemed to put Craig McMillen well in on goal only for the young winger to be brilliantly dispossessed.

That would be the last Ards saw of the Comrades' goal for some time as the home side took over the game in the second half. A rash challenge from Kris Pike on the corner of the Ards penalty area earned Ballyclare a penalty on 53 minutes and Darren McKay's conversion proved unstoppable.

Two-nil became three on the hour when Ian McGrath stretched to poke the ball in at the back post after a Patterson cross had only been parried by Andy McDonald. McGrath's second and the Comrades' fourth came five minutes later when another lay-off from Patterson saw the ball run to McGrath on the far side of the area and he slammed his effort home.

By the 67th minute Ards had all three of their substitutes on the field and it was thanks to the new blood of Ryan Newberry that the side put a mark on the game in the 73rd minute. Newberry was found on the edge of the Ballyclare area and had a shot charged down by a defender, only for the ball to rebound to him and this time he delivered the exact same shot into Mannus' top right hand corner.

Interestingly Ards created a fine second goal on seventy-seven. Substitute David Cully, playing at centre-back, won the ball on the half-way line and threaded a neat ball through to Roy, who casually stepped over it, allowing it to run through the Ballyclare area. McMillen was lightning quick to react and he smartly chipped over the advancing goalkeeper to pull the score back to 4-2.

What then might have become of the game a minute later when Stirling was presented with the chance of the match to make it 4-3, only to blaze over from five yards out. Alas, it was Ballyclare who had a further goal in them as they exposed the Ards defence yet again with two minutes remaining. David Frayne was the man to lead keeper McDonald on a merry dance as he strolled the ball into the net, leaving McDonald and Newberry to injure each other in the debacle.

Team	Substitutes
1 Andy McDonald (GK)	12 Ryan Newberry (for Clifford 67)
2 Darren Nixon	14 Johnny Roy (for Johnston 57)
3 Kris Pike	15 David Cully (for Wilson 67)
4 Gary Spence
5 James Wilson	Referee Evan Boyce
6 Stephen Johnston
7 Craig McMillen 81	Scorers Ryan Newberry 73, Craig McMillen 77
8 Gary Clifford
9 Darren Stirling
10 Aaron McKee (capt)
11 Ricky Billing

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