After a disappointing defeat last Friday against Portadown, Ards looked to bounce back with an away trip to face Dergview. New signings Ben Cushnie and Ethan Wayne made the trip to Castlederg starting on the bench. It was the home side who had the first major chance when player coach Ivan Sproule’s volley trickled wide of the right hand post. However it was the visitors who opened the scoring when a lovely cross from David McAllister found Caoimhin McConnell who found the back of the net. 0-1 in the nineteenth minute. It took nine minutes for Dergview to score an equaliser when danger man Sproule beat Neeson and was able to level the game with a simple tap in. 1-1 with the away side claiming the goal was offside. In the dying seconds of the first half Dergview scored their second when a lovely strike from Matthew Callaghan meant that the home side took the lead going into half time. In the second half, a well timed pass from Scott McMillan was then headed goalwards by TJ Murray, but his header was saved by the Dergview keeper. In the seventy second minute McMillan’s strike looked on target, only to slide wide of the right hand post as the away side looked for a way back into the game. However it was the home side who had the next major chance when Callaghan should have secured all three points for Dergview when he failed to tap in a simple strike after a mix up in the Ards defence. The Sproule brothers continued to cause problems for the Ards defence, with both having shots either going close or being saved by Neeson. It was clear that Ards lacked luck during the game and this was most evident in the last ten minutes when Ards had a handful of corners, most resulting in scrambles in front of goal which no one could take advantage of. However the direction of the three points was confirmed when Sproule tricked Neeson once again and left Andy Sproule with an empty net which he made no mistake of using to his team’s advantage, 3-1 in injury time. The game ended seconds later. Another disappointing result for Ards sees them fall to their third defeat so far this season. Next up for Ards is Queens University on Tuesday night in the County Antrim Shield at the Bangor Fuels Arena. Yellow cards- Kym Nelson and Johnny Taylor
- Jana McCabe