Despite this defeat the standard in performance was an improvement in recent weeks from Tommy Wright’s side.

Cliftonville, who were missing five players through injury, started brightly as Chris Scannell threatened; but it was Ballymena who got themselves back into the game and had the first real opportunity of the game.

On 22 minutes, Johnny Flynn’s long ball forward wasn't dealt with by Ronan Scannell in the Cliftonville defence, allowing United's leading scorer Davitt Walsh to break clear – however his strike was saved comfortably by John Connolly.

The first half remained fairly even with Francis Murphy coming close for the visitors, only to see his shot saved by his namesake, Paul.

Reds’ defender Aaron Smyth was lucky to stay on the pitch in the closing minutes in the first half, as he was only shown a yellow card for his two footed lunge on Craig McClean.

Ballymena paid for their lack of creativity on the hour mark, as referee Colin Burns dubiously adjudged that Barry Johnston’s shot had deflected off Paul Murphy, and awarded a corner.

From said corner, Francis Murphy found Barry Holland on the edge of the box – who drilled the ball through a static United defence for the only goal of the game.

United had to call on their captain to stop them going further behind, as Albert Watson cleared the ball off the line from a Ryan Catney attempt.

United’s only real chance of the half came in the last minutes, as Darren Fitzgerald’s volley was comfortably saved by John Connolly as Cliftonville held out for the three points to go top of the Carnegie Irish Premier League.

"That's probably the proudest I've been of my players in defeat," said United manager Tommy Wright.

"Cliftonville probably started a wee bit better but we weathered their storm and after that there was only one team dominated.

"The supporters were very good to us and we appreciated their backing and their applause. They cheered us off at half-time and stood up and applauded us at full-time.

Teams:

BALLYMENA UNITED	CLIFTONVILLE
1: MURPHY, Paul	1: CONNOLLY, John
2: KELLY, Simon	2: SMYTH, Aaron
3: McCLEAN, Craig	3: SCANNELL, Ronan
4: SCATES, Garth	4: JOHNSTON, Barry
5: WATSON, Albert (c)	5: O'HARA, Declan (c)
6: FLYNN, Johnny	6: HOLLAND, Barry
7: PICKING, Mark	7: MARTIN, John
8: MELAUGH, Gavin	8: O'CONNNOR, Kieran
9: WALSH, Davitt	9: SCANNELL, Chris
10: KELBIE, Kevin	10: CATNEY, Ryan
11: KING, Stuart	11: MURPHY, Francis
Substitutes	-
12: FITZGERALD, Darren	12: O'NEILL, Stephen
Replaced Davitt Walsh (71 mins)	Replaced John Martin (78 mins)
14: REID, Randal	14: McMULLAN, George
Replaced Craig McClean (82 mins)	Replaced Francis Murphy (84 mins)
15: WRAY, Thomas	15: GOWDY, John
Not Used	Not Used
16: HAVERON, Gary	16: BOYD, Ciaran
Not Used	Not Used
17: LOWRY, Stephen	17: DEVINE, Niall
Replaced Mark Picking (71 mins)	Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
None	SMYTH, Aaron (42 mins)
Red Cards:	-
None	None