Since joining Ballymena United after being deemed surplus to requirements at the Oval, the Scottish striker has plundered NINE goals against his former employers over four-and-a-bit seasons at the Showgrounds.

His latest two may also have kick-started United's Carling Premiership campaign after a fully-merited 2-1 victory in east Belfast, with Johnny Taylor's injury time goal for the Glens partially masking Ballymena's supremacy.

"You are on the touchline and there are spells in games where you feel 'they could score' and your own team is maybe not in control. Genuinely, I never felt that tonight from the first minute to the last," said United boss Roy Walker.

"I genuinely thought that we controlled the game and I don't think even our harshest critic could say we didn't deserve to win.

"I thought our fellas were competitive, but controlled competitiveness. I was disappointed we weren't up at half-time, we had a couple of chances, with Philly Carson clean through.

"Elliott Morris made a few great saves at the start of the second half and I was thinking 'uh-oh' but we scored a good goal after some nice interplay between Andy (Smith) and Kevin, who shifted it and bang.

"I laughed to myself as I had shifted him to the other side to stop Colin Nixon, who I felt was winning headers and he scores – I think I'd rather be a lucky manager than a good one!

"For the second goal, Kevin took up a lovely position, not through the middle but coming in on his strong side and you fancy him when he gets into those positions.

"I was pleased with the performance and the result went hand-in-hand. We've been threatening that. I said if we kept playing the way we have been, it couldn't not change for us.

"We could have had something out of every game this season yet we've won the one we were possibly least expected to win and I was chuffed for the players, especially after controlling the game.

Glens keeper Morris had kept Ballymena at bay until 66 minutes. Noel Anderson won a hefty challenge on the right had side of the field and the ball fell to Andy Smith in the right hand channel. He slipped a pass inside to Kelbie, who cut inside and fired a low shot from just outside the area that crept in at Morris' near post.

United's second, on 82 minutes, was a wonderful counter-attacking goal, started by substitute Orman Okuniaya's clever pass to Carson, whose beautifully-weighted pass sent Kelbie clear and he drilled a shot under the body of the advancing Morris.

Report: www.ballymenatimes.com; Picture: www.presseye.com

Teams:

GLENTORAN	BALLYMENA UNITED
1: MORRIS, Elliott	1: KERR, Aaron
2: NIXON, Colin	2: SMITH, Michael
3: NEILL, Kyle	3: COLLIGAN, Lee
5: LEEMAN, Paul (c)	4: SURGENOR, Mark
6: McCABE, Shane	5: WATSON, Albert
8: FORDYCE, Daryl	6: ANDERSON, Noel
9: HALLIDAY, Michael	7: CUSHLEY, David
10: HAMILTON, Gary	8: CARSON, Philip
14: FITZGERALD, Dean	9: SMITH, Andy
15: TAYLOR, Johnny	10: KELBIE, Kevin (c)
24: HILL, Jason	11: LOCKHART, Darren
Substitutes	-
4: CLARKE, Richard	12: TAGGART, Gavin
Replaced Daryl Fordyce (67 mins)	Replaced Philip Carson (89 mins)
7: WARD, Sean	13: STEWART, Aaron
Not Used	Replaced Noel Anderson (80 mins)
11: WATERWORTH, Andrew	14: OKUNAIYA, Ormon
Replaced Kyle Neill (71 mins)	Replaced David Cushley (62 mins)
12: BURROWS, Matthew	15: McCONNELL, Nathan
Replaced Jason Hill (79 mins)	Not Used
18: TAYLOR, James	16: McNEILL, Paul
Replaced Rory Patterson (90 mins)	Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
FITZGERALD, Dean	None
Red Cards:	-
None	None