THE waiting is over as Ballymena United will finally take on Linfield in the JJB Sports Irish Cup Quarter-Final replay at Windsor Park.

The initial quarter-final took place, of course, on the 3rd March but due to a number of fixtures the game is only being played today - on the day the semi-finals of the competition were supposed to be played! Both managers were informed after the game at Ballymena that the replay had to take place within four days of the original tie, much to the dismay of David Jeffery's side - who would have had to have played four games in eight days. Linfield launched an appeal, which meant the game had to be put back, but this meant that Ballymena's Craig McClean and Aidan Watson would be unfairly suspended for the replay, therefore resulting in today's date.

However, given Ballymena's inconsisent results of late, the Irish Cup is the only thing left to play for after falling away in the league table. Ballymena fans will not need reminding that it was 1989 the last time the Sky Blues won any domestic silverware. However, if this current crop of Braidsiders need any encouragment from that team, is that they defeated Linfield as major underdogs in the semi-finals.

In team news, United are reported to be without Gavin Melaugh and Lee Patrick - who have both suffered with ankle problems since the first game. Paul Brown and Gareth McConaghie will also miss the glamour tie after picking up knocks at Distillery last weekend. Steven Lowry is cup-tied after appearing for Limavady United in an early round; however, Aaron Callaghan returns to the team after missing the game against Distillery because he was in Romania with the Northern Ireland Under-21 side.

Key Player

Michael Gault (pictured) has been one of the most consistent performers at Windsor Park this season, as the Northern Ireland Under-21 international is one of the first names on the team-sheet in the centre of midfield. An integral part of last season's four trophy winning team, he has played at Linfield since he was a youth and is starting to close in on 200 appearances, despite being only 23. Played in the Irish League select team last month.

Ex-Players

There are only two Linfield players with a connection to Ballymena United - Midfielder Oran Kearney has been sidelined for most of season with a hip injury has returned to the team recently; he joined the Blues in the summer of 2005 after three seasons at the Showgrounds where he scored 34 goals in just over 100 appearances from midfield. Goalkeeper Greg Shannon joined the Braidmen at the start of last season from the Windsor Blues, but after three games was released to rejoin Linfield, were he hasn't featured in nearly two years due to the outstanding form of Alan Mannus. There are currently five members of the Ballymena first-team that have plyed their trade at Windsor Park in previous years; defender Nigel Boyd was at Linfield in the early nineties, before joining Ballymena in 1995. Whilst midfielders; Stuart King, Darren Murphy, Garth Scates and Mark Picking all won a number of medals in Linfield blue in the last five years. Incidentally, Picking was part of the 'Clean Sweep' Blues side last season.

Previous Meetings

DATE	COMPETITION	HOME TEAM	SCORE	AWAY TEAM
03-03-07	Irish Cup	Ballymena United	1-1	Linfield
17-02-06	Premier League	Linfield	2-0	Ballymena United
21-10-06	Premier League	Ballymena United	0-0	Linfield
18-02-06	Premier League	Linfield	3-2	Ballymena United
07-02-06	County Antrim Shield Final	Ballymena United	1-2	Linfield

Form Guide

	BALLYMENA UNITED	LINFIELD
LEAGUE POSITION	9th - 33 points	1th - 58 points
TOP SCORER	Kevin Kelbie (10)	Peter Thompson (25)
FORM (LAST SIX MATCHES)	LWDDWL	DDWWWD
LAST RESULT	L 1-3 v. Lisburn Distillery (a)	D 2-2 v. Derry City (a)