Ards enjoyed a stroll in the Park on Saturday as a decisive first forty-five minutes play yielded six goals and put paid to any hopes Saintfield might have had of a friendly upset.

Truth was there seemed little chance that the flat looking visitors would ever trouble the Ards goalkeeper and the gulf in class was there for the dedicated band of home supporters to see. Ards fielded a full starting eleven, minus the injured Kris Pike and welcomed back Craig McMillen from injury a little earlier than expected.

Just five minutes gone when Ards scored the first of the game, a fine individual goal from David Cully, who weaved his way past a couple of defenders before slipping past the  goalkeeper to score. The rarest of Saintfield chances came six minutes later when their useful-looking No.10 ended a decent run by clipping a 22 yard shot just past Andy McDonald's goal.

On 19 minutes a sharp through ball from Aaron McKee put in Justin McBride and the veteran showed his class to break away from his marker and score the second. A third followed by the 25th minute as Darren Stirling showed good poise to skip past a defender then keep his feet when clipped by the goalkeeper to slot the ball home.

It was a bitterly cold afternoon in Londonderry Park and the Saintfield side seemed less than up for the challenge, making easy pickings for the Ards for the remainder of the half. A quick break out of midfield from McMillen on 28 minutes saw him spread the ball out to Stirling and the right foot shot that followed had the beating of the keeper to his far corner.

There were one or two appeals for offside around Ards' fifth goal on 35 minutes, though Aaron McKee kept his focus to neatly chip over the keeper at the end of McMillen's through ball. McMillen made his third assist of the day five minutes from the break when his work in getting to the right side of the area opened up space for a cross and Johnny Roy had an easy tap-in in the centre.

A rash of half-time changes saw the introduction of, among others, the Colts' trio of Gary Sharratt, Tony Tumelty and goalkeeper Jason Mooney as well as David Wright. Another substitute, Ryan Newberry had the half's opening chance on 47 but his 25 yard shot rose up over the crossbar. An almost identical chance nine minutes later saw Newberry test the keeper, who parried the shot to safety.

The seventh and final goal arrived in the 65th minute when Darren Stirling took delivery of a quick throw-in on the right wing and sent a low cross ball through the goal area to meet David Wright sliding in at the past post.

The game was well and truly over as a contest, with neither side looking to make much more ground. Ricky Billing returned from his injury spell in the 70th minute but failed to finish the game. The last good piece of play of the match came ten minutes from the end when Wright did a decent job of turning a couple of defenders down the left flank, before releasing Tumelty a fraction too late and the young striker was ruled offside.

ardsfc.co.uk