Soccer

Linfield do the double over Ballymena to streak clear at top of Danske Bank Premiership

Linfield's Joshua Robinson celebrates scoring the winner in Saturday's game at Windsor Park Picture by Pacemaker
Linfield's Joshua Robinson celebrates scoring the winner in Saturday's game at Windsor Park Picture by Pacemaker Linfield's Joshua Robinson celebrates scoring the winner in Saturday's game at Windsor Park Picture by Pacemaker

Danske Bank Premiership: Linfield 1 Ballymena United 0

MOVING nine points clear at the top of the table, beating their nearest rivals for the second time in a week, Linfield manager David Healy was in no mood to downplay the significance of Saturday’s result at Windsor Park.

The Blues beat Ballymena 1-0 in the League Cup final two Saturdays ago and they repeated the trick in the Danske Bank Premiership at the weekend to take a massive stride towards the title.

“That’s a big three points, it was a tough game, which we expected coming off the back of a tough week, we’d a tough game last week in the League Cup, so I’m delighted with the players and I’m delighted with their application,” said Healy.

“I’m delighted with the three points and, more importantly, it gives us another three point advantage on our nearest rivals, so that was big today.”

It was defender Josh Robinson who headed home the only goal of the game midway through the first-half for the home side, and it was no more than Healy says he expects from his backline.

“I’ve been having a go at Josh now for a number of months because he should be scoring more, he’s good in the air, he’s strong and aggressive, so he should be scoring more goals,” the Linfield boss added.

“Jimmy [Callacher] has eight or nine goals from set-plays, Josh has two – three after today – so it’s important when it’s fine margins that you have a set-play up your sleeve and somebody’s going to go head the ball into the net for you.”

Although Healy changed his system in an attempt to outwit Ballymena, it was the visitors who were on top for long periods, with Shane McGinty hitting the upright for David Jeffrey's outfit, and they were left furious after Callacher appeared to block Adam Lecky's strike with an arm late in the game.

“When we played Ballymena earlier in the season, we changed the system to go to a back three, so the players are adaptable, as they should be,” said Healy.

“We worked on it during the week and we came up with a formula to hopefully, not really surprise them because after two to three minutes of seeing a formation you can adjust, but credit to the players today, they took the information on board and we got a big three points at the end.

“They’ve worked immensely hard this season and another clean sheet was the least they deserved.”

Up next for Linfield is a trip to rock bottom Newry City tomorrow night, while Ballymena will host Cliftonville at the Showgrounds. Despite Newry’s atrocious recent form, Healy is taking nothing for granted.

“It’s going to be a tough game, Newry are fighting for their lives,” he said.

“We’ve certainly not had it easy there, going back to even last year when we played them in the Irish Cup. They’ve earned the right to be in this division and they’re fighting for survival, so we expect another tough game but, again, what we’re saying is, we look forward to the challenge and we’ll take Newry as they come on Tuesday night.”