The referee called the game off in the interests of health and safety as one of the floodlights was not working.

Gary Browne had given the Whites a 35th-minute lead, Gavin Melaugh netted the equaliser on 40 and then Johnny Flynn scored an own goal after 70.

An IFA Committee will now decide whether the result will stand or the match should be replayed.

Browne had an early shot palmed away by Paul Murphy but then turned the ball in from an Andy Waterworth cross to give Distillery the lead.

Paul Muir then forced a good save from Murphy but Melaugh lashed the ball past Philip Matthews to equalise after Wayne Buchanan failed to deal with a high ball.

Waterworth's effort was deflected into the net off Flynn before the referee called a halt.

Distillery manager Paul Kirk was not happy with the referee's decision to abandon proceedings.

"I am not a happy man and the referee had no inclination to call the game off until Tommy Wright spoke to the fourth official.

"There was a dullness on one side of the pitch and the referee said at half-time that if the light got any worse he would have to take health and safety into account and may abandon the game.

"He should have made a decision at half-time or let the game finish as the light was never going to get any better at this time of the year," said Kirk.

Ballymena boss Tommy Wright countered that "the floodlight failure only affected Ballymena, not Lisburn Distillery".

"The referee made the right decision but probably at the wrong time. A decision should have been made at half-time."

Teams:

LISBURN DISTILLERY	BALLYMENA UNITED
1: MATTHEWS, Phillip	1: MURPHY, Paul
4: WARD, Julian	2: CALLAGHAN, Aaron
5: BUCHANAN, Wayne (c)	3: McCLEAN, Craig
6: MUIR, Paul	4: HAVERON, Gary
7: KILMARTIN, Andy	5: WATSON, Albert (c)
8: McCANN, Ryan	6: FLYNN, Johnny
9: WATERWORTH, Andrew	7: LOWRY, Stephen
10: BROWNE, Gary	8: SCATES, Garth
12: SHAW, Stephen	10: KELBIE, Kevin
13: THOMPSON, Stuart	11: MELAUGH, Gavin
23: McCANN, Peter	17: WALSH, Davitt
Substitutes	-
..: McCONNELL, Nathan	9: FITZGERALD, Darren
Not Used	Not Used
..: DIPSHUPO, Naamo	12: PICKING, Mark
Replaced Stephen Shaw (75 mins)	Not Used
..: MAGEE, Johnny	14: PATRICK, Lee
Not Used	Not Used
..: McMENAMIN,	15: CUSHLEY, David
Not Used	Not Used
..: ALLEN, Curtis	16: WRAY, Thomas
Not Used	Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
McCANN, Ryan (21 mins)	MELAUGH, Gavin (40 mins)
Red Cards:	-
None	None