For the third season in a row under manager Tommy Wright, the sky blues failed to qualify from the group stages of the League Cup; leaving the manager under mounting pressure from the terraces.

The Braidmen travelled to Stangmore Park for this rearranged fixture needing to win by 3 clear goals, to have any hope of making the quarter-finals.

United, fielding a strong line-up, came out of the blocks well – forcing a number of corners but failed to test Swifts’ goalkeeper, Dwayne Nelson.

The home side looked dangerous going forward and took the lead after 21 minutes. Dungannon youngster Adrian McCaffrey fired a free-kick into the crowded box, however Gavin Melaugh deflected the ball into the path of Simon Kelly.

Kelly’s slow reaction meant the ball deflected off his leg and into the back of his own goal. A horrendous start for Ballymena, who now had to score four to qualifty.

The game was fairly evenly matched, with few chances at either end though, as Dungannon striker Shea Campbell came closest with a blocked shot late in the half.

The second half was much the same, as United failed to produce anything of note in front of goal.

United’s best chance fell to Mark Picking when he chased down a loose ball which forced a brave save at the feet of Picking to smother his stinging shot from close range.

Dungannon began to take control of the game, and nearly doubled their lead when McCaffrey rattled the post for the home side.

There was some discontent amongst the travelling supporters when Wright took off the hard-working Mark Picking with 20 minutes to go. However, this was a precautionary measure due to Picking only returning from a hamstring problem.

Davitt Walsh returned the side coming on at the same time, but failed to make any impact, as the tempo of the game faded into nothingness.

Wright was philosophical after yet another defeat: "I can't fault the players for effort or commitment. The difference between the two sides was that they made the most of their opportunities from free kicks in wide positions."

"We competed throughout the game. We maybe didn't create as many chances as we should have but people have to realise that confidence is low. The players know they can do better and tonight they have made a small step towards that.

Teams:

DUNGANNON SWIFTS	BALLYMENA UNITED
1: NELSON, Dwayne	1: MURPHY, Paul
3: GALLAGHER, JP	2: WRAY, Thomas
4: MONTGOMERY, Johnny	3: McCLEAN, Craig
6: CURRAN, John	4: MELAUGH, Gavin
7: McCABE, Shane	5: WATSON, Albert (c)
9: CAMPBELL, Shea	6: KELLY, Simon
10: McCLUSKEY, Ryan	7: PICKING, Mark
12: McMINN, Adam	8: SCATES, Garth
16: McALLISTER, Mark	9: FITZGERALD, Darren
19: McMANUS, Dwayne	10: KELBIE, Kevin
26: McCAFFERY, Adrian	11: KING, Stuart
Substitutes	-
8: McAREE, Rodney	12: WALSH, Davitt
Replaced Adrian McCaffery (81 mins)	On for Mark Picking (69 mins)
23: BARON, Paul	14: LOWRY, Stephen
Replaced Mark McAllister (72 mins)	Replaced Gavin Melaugh (69 mins)
24: WELLS, David	15: HAVERON, Gary
Not Used	Not Used
27: HAMILTON, Andrew	16: FLYNN, Johnny
Not Used	Not Used
28: McDONALD, Chris	17: CUSHLEY, David
Replaced Ryan McCluskey (87 mins)	Replaced Thomas Wray (87 mins)
Yellow Cards:	-
Unknown	Unknown
Red Cards:	-
None	None