Another City!

Ballymena will attempt to add another city scalp to their Irish cup portfolio, when they take on Newry City having already accounted for Lisburn's representative in the first round. We have been drawn away from home 'again', surprise ,surprise, but this is nothing new for us, but we nevertheless expect a thoroughly professional performance from our lads. Manager Spike and his backroom staff will have the boys up for it and hopefully Wes Lamont has given Dwayne a lesson in coming out for the ball with his knees up, for we're sure he will be subjected to some pressure from the Newry players and referee Andy Hunter 'possibly' won't give him much protection.

As far we know the team will be on the usual lines and we expect, barring injuries, we will start with the same team for the third week running. Former manager Roy Walker, whether by choice or by bad luck, rarely started with the same personnel 2 matches running, but Spike and the boys seemed to have steadied the ship. Giving our injury list, Kane, Sparky and Downey, we are down to the bare bones and our subs bench will make interested reading. There's a rumour doing the rounds that the I.F.A. have failed to register Alan Davidson and he's not eligible for tomorrow's game and that would be a blow to United, who released two players to get him.

Spike, in his meeting with the fans last night backed up his inclusion of Elvis in the starting line-up, despite those glaring misses at Seaview, which could've cost us dearly. He also intimated that he would have no qualms about bringing young players into the team, by saying if they were good enough, they were old enough. The Sport's team read that as meaning we could expect some more youngsters getting their chance between now and the end of the season. Our record against Newry at the Marshes is nothing to write home about, they're generally low scoring encounters, with one goal either way deciding the outcome. Let's hope that one goal is in United's favour at the end of 90 minutes, we know it's gong to tough, but come on United, let's shag those Down sheep!