We managed to catch up with three quarters of the women’s Premier League match between Ballymena and the Ulster Elks at Ballymena Academy early Saturday afternoon.

Thanks to Frankie Brown for additional information.

It promised to be a close game, both sides having won three of their previous outings and the Elks would have had plenty of confidence having defeated second placed Lisnagarvey in their Halloween outing.

Due to a busy Saturday afternoon I was only able to cover the first three quarters.

I made the first quarter even. Elks had the majority of the ball with Chloe Mitchell looking for plenty of work but Ballymena looked more dangerous on the break with Holly Taggart linking well and keeping the Elks big central defender Lucy Craig on her toes.

Ballymena enjoyed more possession and edged the second quarter as captain Clare Gillespie started to work her way forward. However, the Elks came storming back with a very dominant start to the second half as Craig began to take control in the centre of the park and a flurry of penalty corners were won by the visitors, though none converted.

As I left the match at the end of the third quarter I expected to be reading about a draw or an Elks win later but I’d obviously underestimated Ballymena who, in good form themselves, made it four form four with a late goal from forward Kirsten Martin.

The Elks had been sitting just above Ballymena before the game, the students a point ahead in the middle of the Premiership, but the win for Ballymena sees them leapfrog their opponents and move 2 points clear in 6th place.

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