David Cushley was the only change to the Ballymena line-up from the team that lost to Institute in the League Cup last week; the winger replaced Ormon Okunaiya for the trip to County Armagh. Kevin Kelbie remained on the bench following his injury lay-off as Walker started with former Glenavon strikers Nathan McConnell and Andy Smith.

The Sky Blues arguably had the better of a poor first half, creating a number of openings but without any real clear-cut chances - Nathan McConnell's attempt on 15 minutes was cut out by home captain Willo McDonagh.

David Cushley was next to go close when Tuda Murphy fumbled Michael Smith's cross, however the 20-year-old winger fierce drive cannoned off Shea Campbell.

Glenavon's only chance of note fell to Tony Grant after some good build up play by the Lurgan Blues, but the first half was marred by a bust-up between United duo Mark Surgenor and Andy Smith - a quarrel which was quickly extinguished by team-mates.

In the last play of the first period controvesy raged again as Darren Lockhart was felled from behind by Glenavon's Caribbean goalkeeper Tuda Murphy in what looked like a challenge worthy of a penalty. However referee Mark Courtney waved play on and blew for the interval, leaving the injured Lockhart by the side of the pitch as he retreated to the changing rooms.

The second half started in a much more lively fashion as a defensive mistake from Mark Gracey allowed Andy Smith to race through but the United captain failed to test the goalkeeper as he fired a poor effort high and wide.

On 52 minutes David Cushley found space on the edge of the box to drill a strong effort which forced a reflex save from Murphy in the Glenavon goal.

From the resulting corner the visitors look the lead - Michael Smith's cross was met by a downward header from teenage defender Archie Stewart for his first senior goal, capping off a fine week for the Magherafelt youngster who also celebrated being called up to the Northern Ireland Under-23 side.

United's lead only last five minutes though, as Mark Turkington's low cross across the face of goal was missed by everyone except the unmarked Trevor Molloy who knocked home his seventh goal of the season from close range to equalise for Marty Quinn's side.

Ballymena fought back and went close through Lockhart and Kelbie, whilst at the other end Tony Grant was lucky to stay on the pitch after a violent elbow to the face of Mark Surgenor, the Southern based striker escaped without a caution.

With 72 minutes gone, the game turned on it's head; Trevor Molloy raced through and his effort from the edge of the box rattled off the crossbar. Archie Stewart picked up the loose ball and released Michael Smith down the right flank as United hit Glenavon on a stinging counter-attack. Smith played the ball to Nathan McConnell before collecting the strikers with a neat half-volley at the near post for his third goal in four games.

With another away victory on the cards, Ballymena United pressed the self-destruct button with two minutes to go. Former United winger Stuart King's cross wasn't held by goalkeeper Dwayne Nelson and he dropped the ball into the path of Jay Magee who hammered home from close range to send the home supporters wild.

This was suprisingly Ballymena United's first stalemate this season after a run of 21 games without any draws, but it sends the team back down into the bottom half of the League table.

Picture: www.presseye.com | Videos: Andy Nelson (Sky Blue TV)

Teams:

GLENAVON	BALLYMENA UNITED
13: MURPHY, Tuda	1: NELSON, Dwayne
2: CAMPBELL, Shea	2: SMITH, Michael
3: TURKINGTON, Mark	3: COLLIGAN, Lee
4: MAGEE, Jay	4: STEWART, Aaron
8: WALSH, Connor	5: RAMSEY, Chris
9: GRANT, Tony	6: SURGENOR, Mark
10: MOLLOY, Trevor	7: CUSHLEY, David
11: KING, Stuart	8: ANDERSON, Noel
12: McDONAGH, Willo (c)	9: SMITH, Andy (c)
15: GRACEY, Mark	10: McCONNELL, Nathan
24: HARPUR, Ryan	11: LOCKHART, Darren
Substitutes	-
6: HARPER, Adrian	12: KELBIE, Kevin
Replaced Willo McDonagh (81 mins)	Replaced Andy Smith (67 mins)
7: MURRAY, Eamonn	13: OKUNAIYA, Ormon
Replaced Ryan Harpur (73 mins)	Replaced Nathan McConnell (90 mins)
14: CARVILLE, Paul	14: STEWART, George
Not Used	Not Used
16: HAUGHEY, Mark	15: CARSON, Philip
Not Used	Replaced David Cushley (81 mins)
18: LIGGETT, Gary	16: WATSON, Aidan
Replaced Tony Grant (66 mins)	Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
Unknown	Unknown
Red Cards:	-
None	None