White Magic!

The last holiday before Christmas, Halloween, is upon us and it seems only fitting that we, the Ballymena United 'we' that is, have the right to expect some magic. To date we've been subjected to so much dross at home that we grown to expect it. But we also have the right to expect our team to 'try' and turn this round and tomorrow would be as good as time as any. Who can forget the way we blew tomorrow's opponents, Lisburn Distillery, away in the first match of this campaign and followed this up by racing into the 3-0 goal lead in our 2nd match here at the Showgrounds against Glenavon, in the first 30 minutes of the match. But alas and alack it's all being downhill since, sure we have performed on the road, but it's the home form we need to address.

Our former manager, Tommy 'never' Wright, has his team pumped up to stop 'the rot', which saw them lose the last 6 matches. But we should have too much fire-power, with leading scorer Cutch and Jordy both on the score-sheet last week, running in to form. But the 'key man' as far as we are concerned, is midfielder Ally Teggart, he has the ability to turn games. Of course our defence have been known to have the odd lapse in concentration and it's not known if Dicky Vauls is fit to resume, which would let Archie move inside to partner Cookie, while Curtis Woods looks like he's going to tie down the rightback slot. Eamon Murray, getting back to fitness would be our choice in right-midfield, bur manager Walker seems to be determined to play Downey there and he's looking sharper with every game.

A win tomorrow would set us up nicely for our next three games on the road, away to scum next Saturday, Portadown the next week and the Irn Bru league cup match away to Dergview on Wednesday November 16. These are going to be the toughest fixtures we have played in a sequence this season, but it'll set us up nicely for the tough times ahead. The manager will probably go with the team that started and finished last Saturday's, if Vauls isn't fit, or he could second guess us as he's done on a number of occasions and pick several different personnel. But we think he'll not want to tamper with his tactics too much, the Whites will be a different proposition from Carrick, but we still should triumph, let's have some of that 'white magic', come on Sky Blues, let's shag those Lisburn Lilies!