Ahead of this game Roy Walker handed a league debut to teenage defender Chris Ramsey, signed on a short-term deal from Manchester City the day before. With stand-in captain Kevin Kelbie injured, out-of-form striker Andy Smith was a suprise choice for the armband as he led his United side out.

Ballymena had the first opporunity of the tie when Noel Anderson met a United corner with a powerful header only to force a reflex save out of Cliftonville's stand-in goalkeeper Paul McKane.

The visiting Braidmen limited the Reds to few opportunities, with Ronan Scannell's half-volley from a poor United clearance which forced Dwayne Nelson into a comfortable save - was their only tangible effort in the first period.

Cliftonville were also lucky to to see out the game with eleven players when their goalkeeper raced off his line and took out the goalbound Nathan McConnell, outside of the area. Fortunately for McKane; he escaped with little more than a yellow card.

Unperturbed United continued their dominance and Noel Anderson again went close when he connected well with an effort which was saved by McKane but McConnell was thwarted on the line by Ciaran Donaghy, in his attempt to finish the rebound.

Eddie Patterson's side came out with a greater urgency at the start of the second half, as almost instantly Chris Scannell missed a glorious chance after Ryan Catney's cross left him completely unmarked, but the marksman headed glaringly wide of goal.

However, Ballymena United worked their way back into the game and should have gone ahead when Nathan McConnell beat the offside raced through down the right, but fired his effort straight at the goalkeeper while David Cushley's redbounded effort seemingly struck Caldwell's arm, play was waved on.

United did take the lead though on 68 minutes; Andy Smith swiveled on an Aaron Stewart pass and produced an exquisite cross to Nathan McConnell whose strong header beat McKane at his far post. This was the former Reds' striker's third goal of the season.

"I thought it was a competent away performance. Bar a 15 minute spell after half-time I thought we were in control," said Walker.

"In the first half their goalkeeper, to give him credit made two fantastic saves. We missed a couple of chances but I was pleased that our two strikers scored the goals.

"At half-time I said to the players 'Windsor Park'. We had been on top there in the first half and hadn't scored but thankfully, once we weathered the storm, we got the goals tonight and Cliftonville were very gracious, with their management saying we deserved to win.

"The result gives us a good foundation for a succession of home games at the Showgrounds this month and hopefully we can start picking up more points at home," added Roy.

United continue their IFA Premiership campaign on Saturday afternoon when high-flying Dungannon Swifts visit the Showgrounds.

Picture: www.presseye.com

Teams:

CLIFTONVILLE	BALLYMENA UNITED
13: McKANE, Paul	1: NELSON, Dwayne
3: SCANNELL, Ronan	2: RAMSEY, Chris
4: HOLLAND, Barry	3: COLLIGAN, Lee
5: O'HARA, Declan	4: STEWART, Aaron
6: DONAGHY, Ciaran	5: TAGGART, Gavin
8: McMULLAN, George	6: ANDERSON, Noel
9: SCANNELL, Chris (c)	7: CUSHLEY, David
11: MURPHY, Francis	8: SMITH, Michael
17: CATNEY, Ryan	9: SMITH, Andy (c)
22: DUNLOP, Ryan	10: McCONNELL, Nathan
24: CLARKE, Mark	11: LOCKHART, Darren
Substitutes	-
2: FLEMING, Liam	12: SURGENOR, Mark
Replaced Declan O'Hara (75 mins)	Replaced Chris Ramsey (64 mins)
12: SMYTH, Aaron	13: DEANS, Ryan
Replaced Ryan Dunlop (68 mins)	Not Used
14: CALDWELL, Ciaran	14: OKUNAIYA, Ormon
Replaced Mark Clarke (29 mins)	Not Used
20: BANNON, Jason	15: McNEILL, Paul
Not Used	Replaced Nathan McConnell (89 mins)
25: TRAINOR, Kevin	16: O'NEILL, Sean
Not Used	Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
Unknown	Unknown
Red Cards:	-
None	None