After progressing to the 6th Round of the Irish Cup last week, Ballymena get back to the ‘bread and butter’ of the Carnegie Premier League campaign against Stephen Baxter’s Crusaders side at Seaview.

The ‘Hatchetmen’ have made a storming return to the Premier League after winning the First Division last year, as Baxter’s young team sit a highly impressive fifth in the table. However, the form of the Seaview men has dipped in recent weeks, as they can only boast one win from their last six league encounters; the last of which was a 3-0 defeat to Portadown at home. They responded midweek with a 3-1 win over Lurgan Celtic in the Irish Cup, after the game, originally arranged for the Saturday, has been postponed due to a wall collapsing at the Railway End at Seaview. There have been a few new arrivals so far in the transfer window as Alain Emerson and Colin Magill (Loughgall) and Barry Reid (Glenavon) have joined the ranks in North Belfast.

This will be the fourth meeting between the two sides this season with the two sides evenly matched so far. The opening game of the season pitted the two teams together in the CIS League Cup at Ballymena, which ended scoreless. The return game at Seaview ended in a 2-1 win for the Crues, with Garth Scates opening the scoring for United, then David Rainey and Davy Larmour goals effectively knocked the Skies out of the competition. The reverse league fixture at the Showgrounds in October provided a 2-1 win for Ballymena with Gary Haveron and Kevin Kelbie grabbing the goals. Ballymena’s last victory at the North Belfast venue came in February 2005 when Ballymena won 3-2 thanks to goals from Matthew Nolan (2) and Oran Kearney.

Tommy Wright this week wrapped up two-year contract extensions for four of his first team panel; Paul Murphy, Gary Haveron, Darren Fitzgerald and Randal Reid. Former Rangers striker, Fitzgerald, is expected to return to the squad after missing the Irish Cup tie against HW Welders through a hamstring injury. Aidan Watson has returned to training but will not be risked after breaking his wrist, whilst Darren Murphy is set to visit a specialist about a recurring thigh injury.

Travel Arrangements

The Seven Towers Supporters' Club will be running a bus to the game, which will be leaving from the Moat Bar, in Harryville - departing at approximately 2.00pm. It is yet to be known if the Paradise SC will be running a bus as well.

Key Player

At thirty-nine years old, central defender Jeff Spiers is still going strong at the heart of the Crusaders defence. In a career that has spanned nearly twenty-three years. After spells at Barn United and Crusaders in the 1980's, he spent the majority of his career at Linfield winning nearly every trophy available at Windsor Park, before joining Glenavon in 1998 and then onto Bangor in 2001. He rejoined Crusaders in the summer of 2002, and has been a regular since; lifting three trophies last season as captain at Seaview.

Ex-Players

The only Ballymena connection at Seaview these days is striker Anto Crawford, who spent two years at the Showgrounds (2000-02) under Kenny Shiels, making a handful of appearances. He moved to Cliftonville, then to Crusaders via Donegal Celtic. On the other hand, Gary Haveron began his career at Crusaders before moving to Wolves in 1997; and Lee Patrick spent a couple of months at Seaview in 2001 before moving to Ballymena for his first spell at Warden Street.