Saturday's defeat to Linfield at Windsor Park, meant that it's nearly six and a half hours since the Braidmen savoured the celebration of hitting the back of the net.

Tommy Wright and his Ballymena side returned to Windsor Park looking to avenge the humiliating 5-1 defeat inflicted in the League Cup back in August, against a Linfield side so far undefeated in the Carnegie Premier League.

However it took only five minutes for the Blues to begin to trouble the visitors with their first attempt on goal when Peter Thompson fired straight at Paul Murphy in the United goal.

Ballymena, playing a defensive formation showed some attacking threat when Stuart King's corner into a crowded penalty area had to be cleared in a hurry by Pat McShane.

Linfield continued to press, and veteran Glenn Ferguson had two good chances to open the scoring for the Windsor Blues – firing wide on his first attempt and over the bar in his second. The former Northern Ireland striker was seemingly having an off-day in front of goal.

United defended sternly against the attacking threat of the League Champions; as Pat McShane and Peter Thompson both went close for the home side.

On 40 minutes, Aidan O'Kane's corner lacked a finishing touch by the incoming Kris Lindsay. Minutes later Albert Watson gave away a free-kick on the edge of the box, however Ferguson sent the shot over.

After the restart, Linfield finally took their deserved lead on 59 minutes when Glenn Ferguson threaded Thompson through and he outpaced the flat-footed Albert Watson, to race through on goal before firing past the helpless Murphy.

A mistake in the Blues' defence on 70 minutes allowed Kevin Kelbie to break forward in a rare Ballymena attack, however despite firing his guilt edged chance wide – the assistant referee's flag was already in the air.

A few minutes later Murphy was forced into a tremendous save when O'Kane's cross was met by the head of goalscorer Thompson; but his downward header was forced around the post by the Dundalk custodian.

United’s only other chance of note was a tame Kelbie header from a Stuart King cross, as Linfield continued to fire blanks, as they finished with only one goal to show for their dominance.

Teams:

LINFIELD	BALLYMENA UNITED
1: MANNUS, Alan	1: MURPHY, Paul
2: DOUGLAS, Stephen	2: KELLY, Simon
3: McSHANE, Pat	3: McCLEAN, Craig
4: GAULT, Michael	4: HAVERON, Gary
5: MURPHY, William	5: WATSON, Albert (c)
6: MOUNCEY, Tim	6: FLYNN, Johnny
9: FERGUSON, Glenn	7: SCATES, Garth
13: LINDSAY, Kris	8: WATSON, Aidan
16: O'KANE, Aidan	9: MELAUGH, Gavin
17: THOMPSON, Peter	10: KELBIE, Kevin
22: MULGREW, Jamie	11: KING, Stuart
Substitutes	-
11: BAILIE, Noel	12: PICKING, Mark
Not Used	On for Garth Scates (67 mins)
15: DICKSON, Mark	14: WALSH, Davitt
Replaced Tim Mouncey (72 mins)	Replaced Aidan Watson (67 mins)
24: STEWART, Thomas	15: FITZGERALD, Darren
Replaced Jamie Mulgrew (89 mins)	Replaced Kevin Kelbie (84 mins)
26: HOGAN, Liam	16: PATRICK, Lee
Not Used	Not Used
	17: WRAY, Thomas
	Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
Unknown	Unknown
Red Cards:	-
None	None