AFTER the controversy surrounding the Irish Cup replay during the week, Ballymena must focus on the league campaign with an important tie against Limavady United.

Manager Tommy Wright is aiming at a top-six finish for his inconsistent United team, as they take on John Cunningham's Roeside outfit, who lie a place below Ballymena in tenth. Despite losing no less than four first team players in the January transfer window, this young side have recently been producing some very good football and back to back wins over Coleraine and Glenavon are their rewards for that, and also giving champions Linfield a scare at Windsor Park recently.

The two sides have already met three times this season - resulting in two draws and a Limavady win so far. The reverse league fixture saw the sides draw 1-1 with Randal Reid grabbing Ballymena's goal. Whilst the other two games were played in the group stages of the CIS League Cup, with Limavady winning 2-1 in August at home, and then drawing 3-3 at Ballymena.

In team news, Steven Lowry returns to the squad after being cup tied for the Linfield game, whilst former-Limavady boss Wright is expected to stick with the same team from last Saturday that drew with Linfield. Limavady midfielder, Sean Friars, is still serving a suspension and is the only exception to a full squad for John Cunningham.

Key Player

Goalkeeper, Michael Doherty has been a key player for Limavady over the last few seasons; and seemingly saves his best performances for games against the Sky Blues. The flame haired custodian had spells with Sheffield Wednesday and Institute but signed for Limavady in 2003.

Ex-Players

In the Roesiders' camp there are two ex-Ballymena players; the first of which is Austin Friel who joined Limavady in the January transfer window from Ballymena - nearly five months after he joined the club from Limavady last summer! Friel, however despite early signs of promise proved to be a huge disappointment only scoring only one goal for Ballymena. The other player is Joe Gray, who recently returned from a teaching post in England to sign for Limavady - Gray spent three good seasons at the Showgrounds and was a popular figure playing in midfield or even full back, signed from Coleraine in 2002 by Kenny Shiels. Ballymena United have no less than four former Limavady players in their squad, who played under United manager, Tommy Wright at the Roesiders. Paul Brown, Lee Patrick, Aaron Callaghan and Steven Lowry are all likely to play apart against their former club on Saturday with Lowry expected to go head-to-head with his younger brother, Phillip, who has broken into the Limavady first team.

Previous Meetings

DATE	COMPETITION	HOME TEAM	SCORE	AWAY TEAM
11-11-06	Premier League	Limavady United	1-1	Ballymena United
16-09-06	League Cup	Ballymena United	3-3	Limavady United
25-08-06	Premier League	Limavady United	2-1	Ballymena United
18-03-06	Premier League	Limavady United	2-2	Ballymena United
19-11-05	Premier League	Ballymena United	1-3	Limavady United

Form Guide

	BALLYMENA UNITED	LIMAVADY UNITED
LEAGUE POSITION	9th - 29 points	10th - 25 points
TOP SCORER	Kevin Kelbie (10)	Ryan McCreadie (7)
FORM (LAST SIX MATCHES)	DLWWLD	LLLLWW
LAST RESULT	D 1-1 v. Linfield (h)	W 3-2 v. Glenavon (h)