10.15am 2 December 2023
Ballymena Saturday Morning League, Division Two
Raceview 5 Waveney Swifts 4 (att 38)
It requires a very early start to get the morning flight from Manchester to Belfast, but once there it does allow the chance to watch a game in the Ballymena Saturday Morning League.
The competition is a good way of passing the time before a main game in the afternoon, and over the years I’ve reached the point where I’m close to completing its three divisions.
Raceview, along with fellow second division side Braid United, play in Broughshane, just to the east of Ballymena.
The ground, next to Broughshane Community Centre, is a neat venue. The pitch is enclosed, railed off, there’s a pair of dugouts and some advertising boards. The changing rooms are next to the pitch and a path provides hard standing on one side.
Before I landed in Northern Ireland I thought frost might threaten my intended games, but fog turned out to be the greater concern. Visibility was poor but, thankfully, the game was never in doubt.
It was a great match for the neutral and, ultimately, for Raceview supporters. They’re unbeaten and top of the league, so might have expected an easy morning against Waveney Swifts.
But it was the visitors who struck first, and it took a penalty shortly before half time to bring Raceview level. The home side then went 2-1 up in the opening minute of the second period.
Waveney weren’t finished though, and two goals in just three minutes put them back in front. With 15 minutes to go they added a fourth, but it wasn’t long before Raceview had renewed hope with a third goal of their own.
With momentum behind them Raceview went in search of an equaliser, and got it with five minutes left. Then in stoppage time they got a winner that had seemed so unlikely earlier in the half.
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