Lough 41 Championship.
Ards vs Ballyclare Comrades.
Clandeboye Park.
Saturday 19th November at 6.30 p.m.
The last time the two sides met was Friday 26th August under the lights when Ards ran out 2-1 winners. Ards fans will be looking for a similar result as the teams face each other again under the lights, but this time more unusually on a Saturday with a 6.30 p.m kick off. This is of course to accommodate Bangor's Intermediate Cup tie against Strabane Athletic which takes place on the same day but with a 1.30 p.m. start.
There are only four points between the teams at the moment, with Ards in 5th place with 24 points and the Comrades in 8th with 20 points. Regardless of Loughgall's lead at the top, every team in the division appears to have suffered recently from an inability to string a positive string of results together. Over the last five games Ards have alternated as follows WLWLW, the very epitome of inconsistency, yet not one of the other eleven teams in the League has picked up more points in their last five games. Ballyclare have two wins two draws and a defeat in that period. To underline their own inconsistency the Comrades drew 1-1 at home to the Welders last weekend, a team they beat 5-0 at Blanchflower Park at the end of October. During October the Comrades also beat Dundela 5-2 and Darius Roohi scored twice in both those games, earning himself the NIFWA Championship Player of the Month award. So far this season Darius has eight goals and another ex Ards player Calvin McCurry has notched six, to complete the Ards connection, Joe Tully and Gary Donnelly who both spent a few months in Red and Blue last season have both scored twice this season.
Ards will hope that the second half display from last Saturday can be replicated, preferably for 90 minutes and that Eamon Scannell can continue his run of good form. Eamon has been adding goals to his midfield creativity which has seen him score ten times this season including a treble at Blanchflower Park last Saturday. There are also useful goal contributions from Adam Salley on eight and the livewire Ross Hunter on five, making Ards second only to Loughgall in terms of goals scored. Amazingly they are still in negative goal difference territory with the third worst defensive record in the League.
Recent results between the two have gone in favour of Ards, with the last five fixtures resulting in wins for the Red and Blues. Hopefully a good Saturday evening crowd will turn up to cheer them on a sixth win, thereby keeping the pressure on the teams currently above them.
Match Officials :-
Referee - Glenn Buchanan.
1st Assistant - Shane Geary.
2nd Assistant - Jamie Patterson.
Match Sponsor :- Guissepi's Pizzeria, Frances Street, Newtownards.
Ball Sponsor :- Prime Shine Car Wash, Portaferry Road, Newtownards.