Despite being a goal ahead going into the last twenty minutes, it will be Stephen Baxter’s Shore Road side that will face Glentoran in the Crest Teamwear Shield final at the end of the month.

After Saturday's dismal showing against Glentoran, manager Tommy Wright made four changes to the starting line-up bringing back Aidan Watson and Simon Kelly along with goalkeeper Sean O'Neill making his first start of the season, and defender Johnny Flynn making his full debut in central defence.

This semi-final was due to take place at New Grosvenor Park in Lisburn, however at the toss of a coin between the two managers, Ballymena United took the home advantage.

The Sky Blues started very positively, and with more urgency than shown in recent weeks. Simon Kelly had the first real chance ten minutes in, when his long range free-kick rattled the crossbar with Crusaders keeper, Gregg Shannon, well beaten.

Ballymena continued to attack, and it was Scottish striker Kevin Kelbie who came close when his snapshot from a long throw in, had to be cleared in a panic from the visiting defence.

On 13 minutes, Gary Haveron came agonisingly close to opening the scoring when his downward header from Craig McClean’s corner was just about cleared by Crues defender, Andy Hunter, standing on the goal-line.

Minutes later though, it was Hunter who was strechered off the pitch and taken from the ground in the back of an ambulance after he innocuously twisted and collapsed clutching his leg. This forced Baxter into a reshuffle of the defence with loanee Gary Smyth also absent through being cup-tied; Darren Lockhart was forced to fill that role.

The injury took the pace out of the game, and Crusaders managed to fight their way back into the game, as in stoppage time at the end of the half, David Rainey's shot forced Sean O'Neill to make a smart save.

Ballymena's only other chance of note in the first half came when the determined Mark Picking raced through the opposition defence, beating two men, before being hacked down outside the box. The normally reliable set-piece expert, Gary Haveron, fired the resulting free-kick well over the bar.

Crusaders came racing out the blocks in the second half, and Garth Scates had to be very aware to clear the danger from a corner early in the half.

In the 63rd minute, the Sky Blues took the lead, Craig McClean played a deep ball into a crowded box and as Kevin Kelbie's shot rattled off the far post, teenage defender Johnny Flynn fired home the rebound to send the home supporters into raptures.

The West Belfast youngster played in the Milk Cup in the summer as a makeshift striker for Northern Ireland, and celebrated his full debut for the Sky Blues with a goal.

Despite the home side being content to sit on their lead, it only lasted nine minutes. Craig McClean's poor backward header from a long punt by Gregg Shannon, and with the rest of his defence remaining static, it allowed David Rainey to break through and slide the ball past the helpless Sean O'Neill for the equaliser.

The same man broke United hearts in the 81st minute, when former Ballymena goalkeeper Gregg Shannon, lofted the ball forward, which left the Braid defence stranded as Rainey raced through to fire home his second goal of the game to win the tie for the Crues.

He almost got his hat-trick in the final minute, but just fired wide from distance, but his two goal haul was enough to fire the Seaview side into the final against Glentoran.

For United, it's another chance of silverware gone, as manager Tommy Wright ran the gauntlet of discontent at the final whistle.

"We were excellent in the first-half and really should have made more of the chances we had, but we hit the bar and had one cleared off the line.

"I won't walk away, some of the supporters might want to push me, but not the board. They're all disappointed, we're all working at this together, but if there comes a stage where they don't want me anymore, I can't do anything about that."

Teams:

BALLYMENA UNITED	CRUSADERS
1: O'NEILL, Sean	1: SHANNON, Gregg
2: KELLY, Simon	2: MAGOWAN, David
3: McCLEAN, Craig	3: McBRIDE, Stephen
4: HAVERON, Gary	4: MONTGOMERY
5: WATSON, Albert (c)	5: HUNTER, Andrew
6: FLYNN, Johnny	6: DOHERTY, Eamon
7: PICKING, Mark	7: TUMELTY, Ryan
8: SCATES, Garth	8: LOCKHART, Darren
9: MELAUGH, Gavin	9: COULTER, Steven
10: KELBIE, Kevin	10: RAINEY, David
11: WATSON, Aidan	11: MORROW, Chris
Substitutes	-
12: REID, Randal	12: CALDWELL
Replaced Garth Scates (80 mins)	Replaced Andrew Hunter (20 mins)
13: MURPHY, Paul	13: HOGG, Aaron
Not Used	Not Used
14: KING, Stuart	14: REILLY, Martin
Replaced Gary Haveron (70 mins)	Replaced Caldwell (61 mins)
15: LOWRY, Stephen	15: McALLISTER, Eamon
Not Used	Replaced Eamon Doherty (72 mins)
16: FITZGERALD, Darren
Replaced Craig McClean (84 mins)
Yellow Cards:	-
Unknown	Unknown
Red Cards:	-
None	None