Despite a nervy opening period for the visitors at Suffolk Road, it proved to be a comfortable day at the office in the end for Ballymena United, who have now collected 16 points from their last available 18.

It could have been very different when Craig McClean's mistake allowed Sean Armstrong to nip in but seen his shot saved by goalkeeper Paul Murphy.

Murphy was again called upon after five minutes to make an important double save to keep out Donegal Celtic. It was Armstrong again who seen his shot parried into the path of Stephen McAlorum, but his close range shot was saved at point blank range as the Braidmen continued to ride their luck.

The determined home side continued to attack against a static Ballymena side, as Sean Armstrong's luck was escaping him as the former-Coleraine striker had his third clear attempt in the opening ten minutes rattle the woodwork.

Against the run of play it was Ballymena who opened the scoring when, just before the half-hour, Albert Watson (pictured) got a faint touch to Stephen Lowry's free-kick to head past Celtic goalkeeper, Declan Brown. This was the United skipper's first goal of the season.

This calmed the Sky Blues down and they started to play some nice football, and open an otherwise scrappy game up. Darren Fitzgerald had an audacious chip creep just over the bar as the Skies started to come into their own.

Celtic pushed for an equaliser in the second half, but lacked the necessary fire-power and creativity to break down a resolute Ballymena side; former United defender, Ciaran Donaghy, coming close with an overhead attempt.

On 72 minutes the game was over as a contest as Aaron Callaghan's superb low cross across the penalty area was met by Garth Scates who had no hesitation in tucking the ball away for the Braidmen’s second goal of the afternoon.

Manager Tommy Wright was very pleased with the result; "I thought we were the better side and we never really felt under pressure - and we fully deserved it," he said.

"We had that extra bit of quality and that is why we won. Our second goal was very good.

"The movement and passing for the goal was excellent and it is great to have a central midfielder scoring from 12 yards.

Talking ahead of the Christmas period he said; "The confidence in the camp is growing and we have picked-up 16 points out of 18 in our last few matches.

"That is top of the table form, no matter who you are playing against."

United's fourth away victory of the campaign equals the same number of away victories recorded in the whole of last season. Another away win against Distillery on Tuesday night would sent the Sky Blues into fourth in the Carnegie Premier League.

Teams:

DONEGAL CELTIC	BALLYMENA UNITED
1: BROWN, Declan	1: MURPHY, Paul
2: BONNER, Andrew	2: CALLAGHAN, Aaron
3: McCABE, Gerard	3: McCLEAN, Craig
4: McCLEAN, Michael	4: MELAUGH, Gavin
5: DONAGHY, Ciaran	5: WATSON, Albert (c)
6: McALORUM, Stephen	6: HAVERON, Gary
7: MUNSTER, David	7: LOWRY, Stephen
8: BRADLEY, Liam	8: SCATES, Garth
9: ARMSTRONG, Sean	9: FITZGERALD, Darren
10: McDONALD, Paul	10: KELBIE, Kevin
11: LAVERY, James	11: CUSHLEY, David
Substitutes	-
12: GARGIN, Ciaran	12: PICKING, Mark
Replaced Sean Armstrong (75 mins)	Not Used
14: DUFF, Kevin	14: PATRICK, Lee
Replaced Liam Bradley (75 mins)	Replaced Stephen Lowry (84 mins)
15: HEAGNEY, Tony	15: KING, Stuart
Not Used	Replaced David Cushley (75 mins)
16: CRAWFORD, Anto	16: KELLY, Simon
Replaced James Lavery (68 mins)	Not Used
17: CARDWELL, Noel	17: WALSH, Davitt
Not Used	Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
McCABE, Gerard (26 mins)	None
Red Cards:	-
None	None