Defeat would have almost certainly ended Ballymena United's campaign to escape the group stage of the competition for the first time in three years.

However, after a catastrophic start the home side found themselves three goals behind after 25 minutes to a Glenavon side which the Braidmen had comfortably beaten only two weeks previously at Mourneview Park.

Manager Wright didn't hold back when speaking to the Sunday Life; "Going forward I thought we were superb but defensively in the first 25 minutes it looked like some of us had never defended in our lives."

The Sky Blues buoyed by their midweek demolition of Orangefield in the County Antrim Shield, looked to shore up the defence which has conceded seven goals in the three previous group games.

That mentality only lasted five minutes as former Larne striker Lewis Hamlin nipped in unmarked to head the ball home from close range to give Lurgan Blues the lead, when only minutes previously Davitt Walsh had crashed a shot against the crossbar.

On 14 minutes it was Hamlin again on target as he doubled the visitors lead. Stephen Magennis had broken down the right flank and cut the ball back to the unmarked Hamlin in the box, his initial snapshot was parried away by the knee of Paul Murphy - however the English striker knocked home the rebound for number two.

Simon Kelly nearly pulled one back for the Sky Blues with a long range drive, but worse was yet to come from the comical defensive performance of Ballymena United.

Stuart King failed to cope with the electric pace of Ormo Okunaiya and as the former Larne midfielder made a dart for the United goal, King ludicrisly decided to haul the Glenavon winger to the ground on 25 minutes, as Stephen Weatherall had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

The stunned United supporters could only watch in horror as Hamlin dispatched the penalty for his hat-trick as Glenavon went into an unbelievable 3-0 lead.

United boss Tommy Wright made a bold decision and hauled penalty culprit King, who had also been booked, off the pitch on 26 minutes and replaced him with Stephen Lowry.

Lowry's impact was almost immediate as he was fouled by Glenavon's Cayman international goalkeeper Tuda Murphy, and it was United who were awarded a penalty on the half hour. Garth Scates stepped up but fired a tame kick at the visiting 'keeper - fortunately Mark Picking reacted quickest and fired the rebound home to give Ballymena a glimmer of hope.

With seven minutes of the first half remaining, Mark Picking's cross was met with a superb bullet header from new loan signing Davitt Walsh who reduced the deficit to only one goal, with his fourth strike in two games.

The confidence was buzzing from the Sky Blues now, as they were in the ascendency against a shell-shocked Glenavon side.

Ballymena continued to press forward in search of an equaliser and their relentless attack was rewarded in the 49th minute when Mark Picking's cross was only cleared as far as Northern Ireland Under-21 defender, Aaron Callaghan, who had time to control and fire through a crowded box into the bottom corner. Callaghan's equaliser was his first competitive Ballymena goal in almost 50 first team appearances.

An amazing turnaround seemed complete when Stephen Weatherall awarded the third penalty of the game in United favour when Aidan Watson was fouled by Gavin McDonnell in he 55th minute. However, Mark Picking struck a penalty on par with Garth Scates' earlier effort, and Colin Malone's side managed to clear their lines.

It was constant United attack with Stephen Lowry and Paul Brown coming close, but the handling of Tuda Murphy was exceptional, especially in the air.

Substitute Randal Reid had United's best chance to win the tie with a late close-range header- but the Sky Blues had to settle for a point in which was an amazing comeback from three goals down.

Wright was dispondent,

"We should have won the game comfortably but you can't give teams at any standard of football a three-goal start. The three goals were shocking to say the least, the decision-making of certain people, the lack of communication and it was something we spoke about before the start.

"There's been a lot said here about players not wanting to play for the shirt or the club but they certainly showed a lot of character."

Teams:

BALLYMENA UNITED	GLENAVON
1: MURPHY, Paul	1: MURPHY, Tuda
2: CALLAGHAN, Aaron	2: WALLACE, Ian
3: McCLEAN, Craig	3: CARVILLE, Paul
4: SCATES, Garth	4: COWAN, Johnny
5: WATSON, Albert (c)	5: McDONNELL, Gavin (c)
6: KELLY, Simon	6: MURRAY, Eamon
7: PICKING, Mark	7: OKUNAYIA, Ormo
8: WATSON, Aidan	8: DOUGLAS, John
9: BROWN, Paul	9: HAMLIN, Lewis
10: WALSH, Davitt	10: MAGENNIS, Stephen
11: KING, Stuart	11: MEEHAN, Barry
Substitutes	-
12: REID, Randal	12: WALSH, Paul
Replaced Davitt Walsh (84 mins)	Replaced Orman Okunayia (88 mins)
14: FITZGERALD, Darren	14: KEOUGH, Mick
Not Used	Replaced Eamon Murray (46 mins)
15: HAVERON, Gary	15: KEARNEY, Colm
Not Used	Replaced John Douglas (63 mins)
16: LOWRY, Stephen	16: McGUIGAN, Ciaran
Replaced Stuart King (26 mins)	Not Used
17: PATRICK, Lee	17: McCABE, Seamus
Not Used	Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
LOWRY, Stephen (85 mins)	DOUGLAS, John (15 mins)
REID, Randal (90 mins)	McDONNELL, Gavin (55 mins)
Red Cards:	-
None	None