United were vying for their first appearance in the County Antrim Shield final since 2006 - and in turn looking to bring the Shield back to the Showgrounds for the first time in thirty years when they ironically defeated tonight's opponents Crusaders in the final.

Despite the optimism in the Ballymena camp; it was all but eradicated with only nine minutes of the game gone when Gavin Taggart was adjudged to have brought down Mark Dickson by referee Stephen Weatherall who awarded Crusaders an early penalty, despite United protests that the challenge took place on the edge of the penalty area. Aaron Black stepped up and sent Dwayne Nelson the wrong way with his spot-kick to give the Crues the lead.

The Sky Blues failed to really test the league leaders, with Gavin Taggart's drive from outside the area being one of the few tangible attempts for their efforts, but it was easily gathered by goalkeeper Aaron Hogg.

At the other end Crusaders, fielding a number of fringe players, were still threatening the United goal; former United winger Dom Melly went very close when he side-stepped Cushley before drilling his effort inches wide the far post with Nelson well beaten.

In their relentless persuit of chances in the first half Melly and Northern Ireland International Martin Donnelly both went close - whilst Ross Arthurs should have doubled the lead late in the half when he collected a badly spilled ball from the hands of Nelson but seen his goal-bound effort dramatically cleared by the head of Chris Ramsey.

On 56 minutes, the game should arguably have been dead and buried by the North Belfast side when Dwayne Nelson brought down Aaron Black in the penalty area for their second penalty of the evening. Black stepped up for his second spot-kick of the tie but his tame effort to the same side as the last effort was turned away by Nelson, who redeemed himself for giving it away in the first place.

United failed to muster an attempt on target in a dismal second half showing, which meant that Stephen Baxter's Crusaders will take their place in the Shield final against either Linfield or Cliftonville.

Manager Roy Walker wasn't pleased with his side's performance; "Our passing was atrocious and if you can't pass, you can't play. We gave the ball away under no pressure too often and didn't have people taking responsibility.

"We just had too many players off their game, especially, I felt in the middle of the park. We didn't take good care of the football and when you do that, you don't get into the right areas – the ball was like a hot potato to some of our players, they couldn't wait to get rid of it.

"You've got to step up for big games like this and I'm disappointed. If anyone is going to take anything away from us, let them earn it – we gave it away too cheaply. We're a better side than we showed tonight and our players have missed a huge opportunity," added Walker.

Pictures: www.presseye.com | Video: Andy Nelson (Sky Blue TV)

Teams:

BALLYMENA UNITED	CRUSADERS
1: NELSON, Dwayne	1: HOGG, Aaron
2: SMITH, Michael	2: McKEOWN, Gareth
3: COLLIGAN, Lee	3: McBRIDE, Stephen
4: STEWART, Aaron	4: BLACK, Aaron
5: RAMSEY, Chris	5: MAGOWAN, David
6: TAGGART, Gavin	6: COATES, Colin (c)
7: CUSHLEY, David	7: MELLY, Dominic
8: ANDERSON, Noel	8: CADDELL, Declan
9: SMITH, Andy (c)	9: DICKSON, Mark
10: McCONNELL, Nathan	10: ARTHURS, Ross
11: LOCKHART, Darren	11: DONNELLY, Martin
Substitutes	-
12: MUIR, Paul	12: RAINEY, David
Replaced Gavin Taggart (62 mins)	Replaced Dominic Melly (89 mins)
14: CARSON, Philip	14: MARKS, Jamie
Replaced Darren Lockhart (46 mins)	Not Used
15: SURGENOR, Mark	15: OWENS, Jordan
Not Used	Replaced Ross Arthurs (58 mins)
15: McNEILL, Paul	16: MAGEE, Jonathan
Replaced Noel Anderson (79 mins)	Not Used
20: O'NEILL, Sean	17: BOYLAN, Ethan
Not Used	Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
Unknown	Unknown
Red Cards:	-
None	None