Roy Walker's side went into this game with an unenviable record of only having won three league games at home during this calendar year and were chasing that elusive first victory since the Sky Blues defeated Institute in April.

In what was a fiesty encounter; the home side had the ball in the back of the net early on when George Stewart jinxed his way through a number of Portadown challenges but after playing advantage and threading through Nathan McConnell, referee Keith Halliday inexplicably stopped play for the earlier infringement. From the resulting free-kick former Portadown striker Andy Smith failed to trouble Neil Armstrong in his first appearance against his old club.

Andy Hunter's header from a corner was the visitor's first real chance but Dwayne Nelson was equal to the effort, whilst Darren Lockhart and Andy Smith both went close in what was a fairly equal first-half.

Teenage winger George Stewart then went close when he went on a mazy run starting in his own penalty area and racing the length of the pitch but his final shot flew aimlessly over the crossbar.

With the first half drawing to a close a tussle between Portadown's Wesley Boyle and Philip Carson sparked the game into life - when referee Halliday sent both midfielders off and awarded the Braidmen the free-kick for the initial foul.

Darren Lockhart laid the ball off to David Cushley whose pinpoint effort from 30-yards gave Armstrong no chance as the ball rippled the back of the net before the Shankhill Road winger wheeled off in celebration of his second goal of the season.

The Braidmen signalled their intent to continue their good work early in the second half when goalscorer Cushley, rattled the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area after some tremendous build up play, following Lee Colligan's goal-line clearance from a Kevin Braniff effort.

United hit the woodwork again almost straight away, this time Lee Colligan had the misfortune of coming agonisingly close when Andy Smith teed the ball up on the edge of the box but the United full-back could only watch as his effort cannonned off the crossbar.

On 74 minutes, Ronnie McFall's side were back on level terms when a superb through-ball from Gary McCutcheon found David McCullough who cooly lifted the ball over the incoming Dwayne Nelson.

With time running out for the Sky Blues, Michael Smith spurned a glorious chance when he broke free of the Portadown defence but couldn't compose himself when one-on-one with goalkeeper Armstrong and his tame effort rolled harmlessly wide of the far post.

In the 86th minute, Portadown were reduced to nine men when long-serving midfielder Richard Clarke picked up a needless second yellow card for a tussle with David Cushley.

One minute from time Lee Colligan threaded an inch perfect pass through to half-time substitute Kevin Kelbie who finished superbly with his left foot to win the game for Ballymena United and earn their first home victory of the season.

Picture: www.pacemakerpressintl.com

Teams:

BALLYMENA UNITED	PORTADOWN
1: NELSON, Dwayne	13: ARMSTRONG, Neil
2: SMITH, Michael	3: O'HARA, Keith
3: COLLIGAN, Lee	4: CLARKE, Richard
4: STEWART, Aaron	5: CONVERY, John (c)
5: WATSON, Albert (c)	7: BOYLE, Wesley
6: CUSHLEY, David	8: McCLUSKEY, Ryan
7: STEWART, George	10: BRANIFF, Kevin
8: CARSON, Philip	11: MOUNCEY, Tim
9: SMITH, Andy	12: McCULLOUGH, David
10: McCONNELL, Nathan	15: McCUTCHEON, Gary
11: LOCKHART, Darren	19: HUNTER, Andrew
Substitutes	-
12: KELBIE, Kevin	1: MISKELLY, David
Replaced George Stewart (46 mins)	Not Used
13: SURGENOR, Mark	9: TEGGART, Neil
Replaced Nathan McConnell (64 mins)	Not Used
14: WATSON, Aidan	14: TEGGART, Alan
Replaced David Cushley (90+3 mins)	Not Used
15: TAGGART, Gavin	16: HAIRE, Aaron
Not Used	Not Used
16: OKUNAIYA, Ormon	17: PORTER, Gareth
Replaced Andy Smith (80 mins)	Replaced Alan Davidson (70 mins)
Yellow Cards:	-
Unknown	HUNTER, Andrew (30 mins)
	CLARKE, Richard (42 mins)
	McCLUSKEY, Ryan (62 mins)
	O'HARA, Keith (65 mins)
	CONVERY, John (79 mins)
Red Cards:	-
CARSON, Philip (43 mins)	BOYLE, Wesley (43 mins)
	CLARKE, Richard (86 mins)