Admittedly the Braidmen were aided by the withdrawl of Coleraine goalkeeper Davy O'Hare after only nine minutes.

The veteran shot-stopper went down with a calf problem early on, and despite attempts to remain on the pitch - he admitted defeat and had to be replaced by Sean Heneghan with defender John Neill dropping into goals.

The first half was a poor showing for the home side, who struggled to test Neill in the Coleraine goal as attempts from Kelbie and Haveron both were off target.

Coleraine had the better of the first half and almost took the lead late in the period, when Davy Patton forced a poor clearance out of United goalkeeper Paul Murphy. However, Jody Tolan failed to capitalise and fired well over.

Stephen Carson fired into the side netting late in the half as the two sides went in scoreless at the break.

However, just three minutes into the second half the Braidmen took the lead when Thomas Wray headed home a powerful header from a Garth Scates corner.

This was only the full-back's second goal of the season since joining from Dungannon Swifts last summer.

The Sky Blues started to pile the pressure on and John Neill had to be alert to turn away a stinging effort from Kevin Kelbie.

In the 69th minute another corner from Garth Scates was flicked on by Albert Watson and headed home at the near post by Wray again - as he managed to double his tally for the season.

Now two goals ahead and cruising Wright brought on young Paul McNeill who looked very lively and came very close, with the teenage forward forcing Neill into another good save.

United therefore finished their home season off in winning style against the Bannsiders.

Ballymena United manager Tommy Wright, who kept his players behind to thank the supporters, was pleased with the result.

"I'm really pleased for the players because it has been a long hard run since the New Year where we haven't picked up nearly enough points," said Wright.

"I don't think anybody could say we didn't deserve it, irrespective of whether the goalkeeper got injured or not. John Neill did excellently, made a super save from Kevin Kelbie in the first-half and two or three near the end."

Teams:

BALLYMENA UNITED	COLERAINE
1: MURPHY, Paul	1: O'HARE, David
2: WRAY, Thomas	5: McVEY, Kyle
3: McCLEAN, Craig	7: DOOLEY, Steven
4: HAVERON, Gary	8: PATTON, David
5: WATSON, Albert (c)	9: TOLAN, Jody
6: KELLY, Simon	10: McCALLION, Tommy (c)
7: SCATES, Garth	11: CARSON, Stephen
8: WATSON, Aidan	12: McLAUGHLIN, Paddy
9: WARD, Michael	18: NEILL, John
10: KELBIE, Kevin	19: McLAUGHLIN, Ryan
11: KING, Stuart	22: BEVERLAND, Howard
Substitutes	-
12: PATRICK, Lee	4: HUNTER, Marty
Not Used	Replaced Jody Tolan (65 mins)
14: PICKING, Mark	14: WATT, John
Replaced Michael Ward (84 mins)	Not Used
15: LOWRY, Stephen	16: HENEGHAN, Sean
Not Used	Replaced Davy O'Hare (9 mins)
16: CUSHLEY, David	21: HUTCHINSON, Trevor
Not Used	Repalced Stephen Dooley (65 mins)
17: McNEILL, Paul
Replaced Kevin Kelbie (78 mins)
Yellow Cards:	-
WATSON, Aidan ('58)	None
Red Cards:	-
None	None