The Sky Blues welcomed struggling Limavady United to the Warden Street venue, full of confidence following back to back wins over Armagh City and Portadown in the last fortnight.

That confidence showed when after only 15 minutes, the Braidmen had the first chance of the game with an ambitious 30-yard free kick from Simon Kelly which only just sailed over the bar.

The inevitable opening goal came for Ballymena on 24 minutes though, when goalkeeper Paul Murphy's long clearance forward was flicked on by Stephen Lowry and Davitt Walsh raced through to fire past the helpless Glenn Millar, in the Roesiders’ goal.

Ballymena continued to press with no real reply, as five minutes later Gary Haveron was the next home player to have a pop, as his 25-yard effort wasn’t far away.

The second goal, which effectively killed off the game, came two minutes before the break as Craig McClean's throw found Davitt Walsh, who lost possession but the ball fell kindly to Stephen Lowry (pictured), who rifled home into the bottom corner.

This was the Limavady native's second goal in successive weeks, this time against his former club. He had replaced the injured Mark Picking for this game, and did his claim for a regular start no harm.

The second half was a lack-lustre affair with few chances.

Ballymena scored a third on 75 minutes, when the superb Gavin Melaugh threaded the ball to Kevin Kelbie who slotted the ball under the goalkeeper, for United’s third and his third strike of the season.

The game finished that way, as Ballymena recorded another win and also their first clean sheet in the League since April.

Manager Tommy Wright was happy with the result and the performance of his strikers against his former employers.

"We have a bit more cutting edge and quality up front and even if we don't create a bagful of chances, you still feel confident that the players we have up there can stick a couple away.

"We probably didn't play as well as we have done in recent weeks but it was comprehensive enough in the end. They didn't create any clear-cut chances.

"Our third goal was delightful with the build-up, Gavin Melaugh's technique in the build-up was excellent and Kevin took his shot early.”

That win takes the Skies up to seventh in the Carnegie Premier League table, going into the International break that will see Ballymena return to action in two weeks time.

Teams:

BALLYMENA UNITED	LIMAVADY UNITED
1: MURPHY, Paul	1: MILLAR, Glenn
2: CALLAGHAN, Aaron	2: MULLAN, Ryan
3: McCLEAN, Craig	3: CROSSAN, Matthew
4: HAVERON, Gary	4: KING, David
5: WATSON, Albert (c)	5: FERRY, Martin
6: KELLY, Simon	6: TOMMINNS, Gareth
7: LOWRY, Stephen	7: CURRAN, Barry
8: SCATES, Garth	8: LYNCH, Conor
10: KELBIE, Kevin	9: STEWART, Ryan
11: MELAUGH, Gavin	10: BOYD, Matthew
17: WALSH, Davitt	11: McILMOYLE, Ryan (c)
Substitutes	-
9: FITZGERALD, Darren	12: KELLY, Stephen
Replaced Davitt Walsh (82 mins)	Replaced Martin Ferry (90+3 mins)
12: McNEILL, Paul	14: McLERNON, Trevor
Replaced Stephen Lowry (85 mins)	Replaced Barry Curran (46 mins)
14: PATRICK, Lee	15: KEARNEY, Liam
Replaced Garth Scates (79 mins)	Not Used
15: CUSHLEY, David	16: FRAME, Hugh
Not Used	Replaced Liam Stewart (66 mins)
16: FLYNN, Johnny
Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
SCATES, Garth (26 mins)	CURRAN, Barry (36 mins)
KELBIE, Kevin (90+1 mins)	McILMOYLE, Ryan (72 mins)
Red Cards:	-
None	None