Both sides ironically came into this game off the back of late defeats to Cliftonville - as the race for fourth place begins to heat up.

The opening half was a dull affair, with Ballymena United firmly camped in the opposition half, striding forward with every opportunity.

The home side had a handful of chances against the run of play in the first half as both Johnny Topley and Wesley Boyle fired wide.

It was the visitors who took the lead on 30 minutes tough, as the unmarked Kevin Kelbie fired home from a tight angle for his 13th goal of the season, after Garth Scates had found space for the Scot.

The sparse home crowd thought it was level when their own Scottish forward, Gary McCutcheon, headed home but his goal was ruled out for offside.

With the end of the half looming, Kevin Kelbie tried his luck from distance but his stinging shot was well held by David Miskelly in the Portadown goal - as the Sky Blues finished the first half on top.

The second half was a different affair, as Portadown dominated the following 45 minutes as Ronnie McFall made a double substitution at the break which included former United midfielder Jamie Marks.

Kevin Braniff and Marc McCann had good chances for the Ports, both forcing Paul Murphy into action.

The equaliser came on 65 minutes when poor United defending from Ross Redman's free-kick meant that Thomas Wray's poor clearance was hammered into the back of the net by Wesley Boyle.

The game turned on it's head just two minutes later when the home side went in front.

A tame corner from the left side from the Ports was flicked on by Thomas Wray into the danger area and Gary Haveron's vain attempt to head the ball clear resulted in a disastorous own goal.

Kevin Braniff led a strong claim for a penalty kick when he was muscled off the ball by United skipper Albert Watson, however referee Raymond Crangled waved the play on.

Boyle skied a good chance well over the bar as Portadown bossed the possession, and despite Ballymena's late push they held out for the 2-1 victory.

"The number of goals we've conceded in the last five games and the nature of those goals tells you how good a player Johnny Flynn was for us," Wright told the Ballymena Times.

"I was delighted with our first half display but my players have to realise that if they've played well in the first half, the other team isn't going to let them do that in the second half.

"We warned the players at half-time that Portadown would up the tempo and get in our faces and the only way they looked likely to score was if we gave silly free kicks away because Portadown hadn't threatened us at all from open play.

"We didn't deal with a free kick into our box and a long throw. I'm not disappointed for the players because they got what they deserved in the end because they should have dealt with those situations better."

Teams:

PORTADOWN	BALLYMENA UNITED
1: MISKELLY, David	1: MURPHY, Paul
2: McKEOWN, Gareth	2: WRAY, Thomas
3: REDMAN, Ross	3: McCLEAN, Craig
4: O'HARA, Keith	4: HAVERON, Gary
5: CONVERY, John (c)	5: WATSON, Albert (c)
6: BRANIFF, Kevin	6: KELLY, Simon
7: BOYLE, Wesley	7: MELAUGH, Gavin
8: PASA, Cahit	8: SCATES, Garth
9: McCUTCHEON, Gary	10: KELBIE, Kevin
10: LIGGETT, Gary	11: KING, Stuart
11: TOPLEY, Johnny	17: WALSH, Davitt
Substitutes	-
12: MARKS, Jamie	9: PICKING, Mark
Replaced Gareth McKeown (46 mins)	Not Used
13: ARMSTRONG, Neill	12: LOWRY, Stephen
Not Used	Replaced Craig McClean (87 mins)
14: McCANN, Marc	14: PATRICK, Lee
Replaced Cahit Pasa (46 mins)	Replaced Davitt Walsh (65 mins)
15: McCULLOUGH, David	15: CUSHLEY, David
Not Used	Not Used
16: TEGGART, Alan	16: REID, Randal
Not Used	Replaced Gary Haveron (70 mins)
Yellow Cards:	-
MARKS, Jamie (83 mins)	None
McCUTCHEON, Gary (90+2 mins)	-
Red Cards:	-
None	None