Perhaps a welcome break from league football as Ballymena United & Newington Youth face off to decide who makes it to next stage of the Irish Cup. All the pre-match information is available here!
Newington Youth could be less fresh than the hosts in this fixture, as they played a Championship game only four sleeps ago. That game was also an away game, at Dergview. It will be interesting to see if they are fully ready and rested for this match, and/or if some changes in the lineup is necessary.
Ballymena United form and stats
Ballymena United have collected 20 points from their Premiership home games so far after 6-2-4.
McDaid was the last player to score a league goal for Ballymena and it's becoming a more and more distant memory as Ballymena United haven't scored in 270 minutes.
Ballymena United lost their last game at Cliftonville after a 0-4 scoreline. Ballymena United were outplayed and humiliated in their previous game, as mentioned in the paragraph above. They will need to reinstall their confidence before this one.
The spoils were shared after 90 minutes before that, a Premiership home game that ended 0-0 versus Newry City AFC.The Ballymena United fans have had their share of opportunities to cheer home goals this season, having seen 18 goals in 12 league matches. 13 goals have been conceded.
Newington Youth form and stats
There's been little loot from Newington Youth's travels as they have only collected 11 points from 13 away games in the Championship. Newington Youth only have 3 wins to counter their 8 defeats and 2 draws.
Morgan was the last player to score for the away team. Newington haven't scored a league goal in the last 270 minutes.
There might be some fixture complaints from Newington Youth as they are again playing away from home after losing on the road in their previous game, 0-3 against Dergview.
Prior to that match, the Newington manager Hamilton faced defeat when travelling to Warrenpoint Town and losing 0-2.Defensive performances away have varied in quality as Newington Youth have conceded 24 goals on the road. For more goal statistics, check out the Statistics tab above.
Head 2 Head
As for the last two games between these two teams, there's two Ballymena United victories, zero draws and zero Newington Youth wins. Over/under statistics; two of these games ended with three goals or more, zero matches with two goals or less.
Top Goalscorers
  D. McDaid 7 goals | K. Nelson 3 goals | J. Gibson 3 goals |
Ballymena United missing players
Newington Youth missing players
| Ballymena United | Newington Youth | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 11 | Played | P | 12 | 25 | ||
| 9 | 6 | Won | W | 3 | 7 | ||
| 3 | 1 | Drew | D | 1 | 2 | ||
| 13 | 4 | Lost | L | 8 | 16 | ||
| 27 | 16 | Scored | S | 12 | 35 | ||
| 37 | 11 | Conceded | C | 23 | 53 | ||
| 96% | 91% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | ||
| 80% | 82% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 83% | 88% | ||
| 48% | 45% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 67% | 76% | ||
| 20% | 18% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 17% | 32% | ||
| 12% | 9% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 8% | 28% | ||
| 32% | 27% | BTTS | BTTS | 58% | 68% | ||
| 28% | 45% | Clean Sheets | C S | 8% | 8% | ||
| 44% | 36% | Failed to Score | F T | 33% | 24% | ||
| 4 | 4.1 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 5.1 | 5.2 | ||
| 6.7 | 7.8 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 2.7 | 3.4 | ||
| 1.3 | 1.7 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 2.3 | 2 | ||
| 1 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 1 | 1 | ||
| 5.6 | 5.7 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 8.8 | 9.7 | ||
| 2.7 | 2.8 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3.3 | 3.7 | ||
| 40% | 50% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 30% | 29% | ||
| 11 | 8.8 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 9.1 | 10 | ||
| 5.3 | 3.9 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4.3 | 4.8 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Cliftonville | 26 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 50 | 32 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 30 | 10 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 22 | 18 | 56 |
| 2 | Larne | 25 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 42 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 23 | 4 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 11 | 27 | 53 |
| 3 | Linfield | 26 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 53 | 22 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 11 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 31 | 11 | 31 | 52 |
| 4 | Coleraine | 26 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 46 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 24 | 11 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 22 | 10 | 25 | 50 |
| 5 | Crusaders | 26 | 15 | 4 | 7 | 51 | 31 | 13 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 35 | 10 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 16 | 21 | 20 | 49 |
| 6 | Glentoran | 23 | 14 | 2 | 7 | 44 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 28 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 9 | 29 | 44 |
| 7 | Ballymena United | 24 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 28 | 36 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 18 | 13 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 23 | -8 | 30 |
| 8 | Glenavon | 24 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 41 | 46 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 26 | 28 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 18 | -5 | 27 |
| 9 | Carrick Rangers | 24 | 7 | 4 | 13 | 31 | 47 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 21 | 20 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 27 | -16 | 25 |
| 10 | Newry City AFC | 25 | 6 | 2 | 17 | 25 | 47 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 15 | 18 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 29 | -22 | 20 |
| 11 | Dungannon Swifts | 26 | 5 | 2 | 19 | 17 | 60 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 41 | -43 | 17 |
| 12 | Portadown | 25 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 9 | 65 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 28 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 37 | -56 | 5 |
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Loughgall | 25 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 47 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 29 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 8 | 33 | 52 |
| 2 | Annagh United | 25 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 47 | 22 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 7 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 23 | 15 | 25 | 51 |
| 3 | Warrenpoint Town | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 44 | 28 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 25 | 15 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 19 | 13 | 16 | 47 |
| 4 | Dundela | 23 | 13 | 1 | 9 | 33 | 28 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 20 | 17 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 5 | 40 |
| 5 | Ards | 24 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 45 | 47 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 23 | 22 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 22 | 25 | -2 | 34 |
| 6 | Ballyclare Comrades | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 36 | 41 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 19 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 22 | 22 | -5 | 30 |
| 7 | H&W Welders | 25 | 9 | 2 | 14 | 41 | 49 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 25 | 23 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 16 | 26 | -8 | 29 |
| 8 | Ballinamallard United | 23 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 25 | 37 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 23 | -12 | 29 |
| 9 | Institute | 24 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 34 | 32 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 20 | 10 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 14 | 22 | 2 | 27 |
| 10 | Dergview | 23 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 30 | 43 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 16 | 18 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 25 | -13 | 24 |
| 11 | Newington Youth | 25 | 7 | 3 | 15 | 37 | 52 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 24 | 28 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 24 | -15 | 24 |
| 12 | Knockbreda | 24 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 25 | 51 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 33 | -26 | 20 |
