The Old Campbellian Society

Ballymena always provide stern opposition; and yet again this proved to be the case at The Showgrounds on Saturday.

Campbellians looked over casual and half asleep during the first period. Ballymena on the other hand, moved the ball around with crisp accurate passes and stunned the visitors with a reverse stick goal from the edge of the circle on 12 minutes. The Home side also controlled the midfield early on and crowded their defence, leaving Campbellians struggling to make any real progress.

However, patient play and retention of the ball allowed the visitors to wait for the opening, which finally came on 24 minutes. Great work by Joel Easlea resulted in a penalty corner straight from the training ground, giving James Leebody the opportunity to open his account for the day. Ballymena responded immediately; but their resulting penalty corner drag flick was brilliantly saved, and the first period ended all square.

Whilst Ballymena continued to pose a threat, the second half saw Campbellians settle into their rhythm. Terrific work by Alex Todd in a pacy one two with John Rea on the left, found Adam Campbell on the back line. Great stick work allowed him to close on goal and send a peach of a flick past Ballymena 'keeper Graeme Shaw from an almost impossible angle.

With Chris Maskery controlling the play from the back, Campbellians started to up the work rate. Conor Bannister and David Deane alternatively troubled the Ballymena defence; and 20 minutes into the half won another penalty corner, which James Leebody zipped into the top left hand corner of the net with a gem of a drag flick. From this point on it was almost all Campbellians.

On 28 minutes Robbie Sholdis picked up the ball in midfield, found Andy Burnside on the right, who expertly beat two defenders and found Adam Campbell (for his second goal) with a rocket of a ball across the circle. Campbellians piled on the pressure; and with just 45 seconds to go, Joel Easlea made it five for the visitors with a blinding reverse stick shot from the edge of the circle.

After a poor first half, and going one behind, a superb performance in the second period saw the Firsts playing some of their best hockey this season, keeping them firmly on the promotion trail.