The initial game at the start of the month had only lasted 77 minutes, before floodlight failure caused the game to be abandoned by referee Arnold Hunter with Distillery leading 2-1.

Tommy Wright's side grabbed their second chance and moved up into fourth in the league. But they didn't have it easy against the Whites.

Distillery had the better of the first half proceedings and after just three minutes Paul Muir's goalbound header was well saved by the outstreched Paul Murphy in the visiting goal.

The home side continued to pile on the pressure as on 18 minutes, in-form Andrew Waterworth's shot forced another smart save out of the Ballymena United goalkeeper.

Kevin Kelbie playing as the lone striker was struggling for support in a new formation - as the Sky Blues' only meaningful chance of the half fell to David Cushley who failed to threaten Matthews.

Distillery finished the half in the ascendency as Ballymena native, Paul Muir, fired a free-kick which just clipped the top of the crossbar.

The Braidmen came out like a team possessed in the second half as they produced one of their best second half displays in years, firstly Scates had an effort cleared off the line a minute after the restart.

This set the tone for the half as David Cushley then raced through but seen his effort hit the crossbar.

On 50 minutes, the opening goal came - as Garth Scates' cross from the right found Kelbie, who held off his marker, and had time 'toe-poke' a shot past Matthews.

Nine minutes later United's free-flowing football got the better of the home side again, when Aaron Callaghan's superb ball down the channel found Kelbie who released Stephen Lowry; who played a fantastic cross which Cushley met with a glancing header for the second goal.

Tommy Wright's dominated the half from start to finish and the impressive Gavin Melaugh went close again.

Distillery midfielder Ryan McCann was sent-off in the 79th minute when he seemingly caught Lowry with an elbow to the Limavady midfielder's face. Referee Arnold Hunter had no hesitation in giving a red-card.

An impressive 2-0 victory for the Sky Blues moves them up to fourth in the table, leapfrogging the Lisburn Whites.

Teams:

LISBURN DISTILLERY	BALLYMENA UNITED
1: MATTHEWS, Phillip	1: MURPHY, Paul
3: FERGUSON, Michael	2: CALLAGHAN, Aaron
5: BUCHANAN, Wayne (c)	3: McCLEAN, Craig
6: MUIR, Paul	4: HAVERON, Gary
7: KILMARTIN, Andrew	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	9: CUSHLEY, David
13: THOMPSON, Stuart	10: KELBIE, Kevin
15: MAGEE, Johnny	11: MELAUGH, Gavin
Substitutes	-
12: GARGIN, Ciaran	12: PICKING, Mark
Replaced Sean Armstrong (75 mins)	Replaced Stephen Lowry (88 mins)
14: DUFF, Kevin	14: PATRICK, Lee
Replaced Liam Bradley (75 mins)	Replaced Garth Scates (83 mins)
15:	15: KING, Stuart
Not Used	Replaced David Cushley (77 mins)
16:	16: FITZGERALD, Darren
Replaced James Lavery (68 mins)	Not Used
17:	17: KELLY, Simon
Not Used	Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
Unknown	Unknown
Red Cards:	-
McCANN, Ryan (79 mins)	None