It was a an action-packed game at the Ballymena Showgrounds and referee Mark Courtney found himself in the thick of the action with a number of controversial decisions.

The first half was a timid affair to proceed the action packed second half, Ballymena had the bulk of the play but could only force half-chances from Simon Kelly and Gavin Melaugh.

On 40 minutes the game sprang to life when Distillery goalkeeper Phil Matthews raced off his line and hacked down the on-rushing Michael Ward and sent him onto the surrounding track.

Referee Mark Courtney made a questionable decision to only book Matthews after assessing the situation.

This incident added a bit of spark to the game, however the two sides went into the break scoreless.

Four minutes after the restart Ballymena United took the lead when Simon Kelly reacted to a Phil Matthews mistake from Stuart King's corner. The Dundalk-based defender was on hand to hammer home from close range.

The goalscorer went from hero to villan sixty seconds later as Lisburn Distillery went straight on the attack and Mark Cooling's goalbound effort was palmed away by Kelly on the United goal-line.

Referee Mark Courtney showed no hesitation in awarding the Whites the penalty and sending Simon Kelly off in the process - only the second United player to be sent off this season.

Darren Armour confidentally struck the spot-kick past Paul Murphy for the equalising goal.

The Braid side went back into the lead on 57 minutes when captain Albert Watson rose to head home Gavin Melaugh's corner.

Tommy Wright's Ballymena United side were suddenly reduced to nine men when Craig McClean recieved his second yellow card for a poorly timed tackle.

Lisburn Distillery through everything at the home goal, and Ballymena battled valiantly in the face of near constant pressure from the Whites.

Former Ballymena United defender Paul Muir struck an effort from 30-yards which rattled the under-side of the crossbar and was eventfully turned away.

The game began to take a turn for the worse late on when Distillery's Darren Armour unfairly challenged goalkeeper Paul Murphy, the United custodian threw the ball out of the play so he could recieve treatment.

However, in an act of gross unsportsman like behaviour Paul Kirk and his captain, Muir, decided against playing the ball back the injured goalkeeper and continued to attack.

Just as normal time had finished, Murphy again bore the brunt of heavy handed tactics from the Distillery front line as he recieved a stray elbow in the face from Nathan McConnell.

In a similar result to his own goalkeeper previously McConnell only recieved a yellow card for his actions.

This left the Ballymena United shot-stopper lying unconcious and was carried off the field on a stretcher.

Davitt Walsh was brought on to replace the goalkeeper and Kevin Kelbie bravely took the gloves and stepped into goals for the remainder of the game.

Then in the TENTH minute of injury time McConnell nipped through to score the equaliser with virtually the last kick of the game. A heart-breaking blow for Ballymena United.