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Carnegie
First Division: Tobermore United 1-1 Ards
3rd May 2008
 A James Wilson
header two minutes into second half injury time rescued a point for Ards
that had seemed lost after Tobermore took a 78th minute lead today.
A breakaway goal from
Niall Cooke against the run of play put the home side ahead and looked
to have punished Ards for not converting any of their chances. But enter
Wilson again at the crucial moment to equalise and take his tally for
the season to eight.
With Aaron McKee, Ricky
Billing and Mark Parker all unavailable the Ards side took on a
different slant to that of Thursday night's beaten cup final team. Craig
McMillen was tried in the centre of midfield, with Kris Pike moved up
beside him on the left flank to accommodate Kerri Grant at left-back.
Justin McBride began the game up front, while David Cully was recalled
at right-back.
It would be difficult to
say whether the noon kick off time did anything to harm the attendance,
as it would equally be true to say fans might have been put off by the
end of season feel that has afflicted Ards games over recent weeks.
Things were no different here, with both sides working hard and doing
plenty of running but lacking the final push when it was needed.
An early chance for Ards
fell to striker McBride, likely playing his penultimate game for the
club. He received the ball on the edge of the Tobermore penalty area and
turned to flash a right footed shot wide of goal. Tobermore kept Ards
pretty much at bay after that, defending very deep with often seven or
eight men behind the ball, and Ards understandably, struggled to break
that down. Still both McMillen and Jonny Roy were full of effort that
more often than not produced no results.
With Tobermore without any
penetration themselves, the only opening came through the visitors. A
full thirty minutes after that earlier McBride chance, the Ards
assistant manager provided a dangerous cross into the home box, looking
for the head of either Stirling or Wilson, but neither could reach the
back post in time. With four minutes to the break a good passing move by
Ards got the ball to the feet of McBride inside the Tobermore '18 but a
defender was there to block as Justin prepared to shoot.
Ards striker Darren
Stirling was in the midst of a quiet afternoon when the ball was put
through the middle for him on 58 minutes. With McBride free to his
right, he opted to push on alone and finally put a low drive wide of the
left hand post. With that Ards manager Tommy Kincaid had seen enough and
sent on substitutes Gary Sharratt, Mark Drysdale and Danny Mulholland
for McBride, Grant and Roy.
A better chance followed
for Stirling on 63 when a clearance out of defence from Spence was
knocked on by McMillen. A timed run allowed Stirling to beat the offside
and, for a moment it appeared, the goalkeeper, but William Hassan
recovered well to save Stirling's second shot with his feet.
On 78 minutes came the
Tobermore goal, that Ards very much had a hand in. An attacking move on
the Ards left broke down and a couple of passes saw the ball back with
goalkeeper Andy McDonald within seconds. His kick out was planted firmly
back up the field by a United defender and when Ian Crockett slipped the
ball on for Cooke he slotted home past McDonald.
That seemed to be the way
the match would finish, with Ards' heads now down and looking devoid of
ideas. However, with over time well underway a cross hit the Tobermore
box from Sharratt and Wilson sneaked in behind the defenders to head in
an unexpected leveller. The sides meet again on Tuesday in Bangor to
complete the league programme.
| Team |
Substitutes |
| 1 Andy McDonald (capt.)
(GK) |
14 Danny Mulholland
(for Roy 63) |
2 Darren Nixon  31 |
21 Mark Drysdale (for
Grant 63) |
| 3 Kris Pike |
23 Gary Sharratt (for
McBride 63) |
| 4 Gary Spence |
|
| 5 James Wilson |
Referee
|
| 7 Craig McMillen |
|
| 9 Darren Stirling |
Scorer
James Wilson 90+2 |
| 12 Jonny Roy |
|
| 16 Kerri Grant |
|
| 18 David Cully |
|
| 20 Justin McBride |
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