Manager Roy Walker recalled Andy Smith following suspension as the Sky Blues looked to end their dismal run of eight games without a win stretching back to October, against a Linfield side who were also suffering a dip in form.

It was the visitors who dominated posession in the early stages but failed to create many clear-cut chances, Mark McAllister was first to miss a golden opportunity on nine minutes when he somehow headed Billy-Joe Burns' cross wide from close range.

Jamie Mulgrew and Michael Gault went close without testing Sean O'Neill as Ballymena visibily grew in confidence with every minute that passed and eventually took the lead on 44 minutes.

David Cushley whipped in a dangerous deep free-kick from the left touch-line which veteran midfielder Darren Lockhart rose highest to meet and loop over the stranded former United goalkeeper Alan Blayney to give the Braidmen the lead.

The Blues looked shell-shocked as David Cushley found space and fired a stinging over, whilst Chris Ramsey also seen a headed effort hit the top of the crossbar.

Two minutes into stoppage time at the end of the first half, Ballymena doubled their lead in style. Andy Smith easily outpaced the sluggish Kris Lindsay to a loose ball to play in Kevin Kelbie. The Scot played a superb one-two with Aidan Watson before turning Linfield's Michael Gault inside out and hammering the ball past Blayney.

In the second-half it could easily have been more for United as David Cushley struck a free-kick which rattled the post on the hour mark, but there was no follow up from the United forwards.

McAllister was again guilty of missing a great chance after Billy-Joe Burns threaded a neat pass through the United defence and the former Dungannon stiker seen his tame effort turned away by the outstretched foot of O'Neill.

Philip Lowry and Curtis Allen both went tantalisingly close for David Jeffery's side as the snow began to fall at the Warden Street venue but it turned out to be a Winter Wonderland for Roy Walker as the Sky Blues held out for a richly deserved victory.

United's assistant manager Jim Grattan was full of praise for goalscorer Kevin Kelbie; "They were two fantastic goals, the second in particular, with great link-up play and Kevin, who hasn’t been doing what he’s good at recently, made a great turn in the box and scored," he said.

"It was like the old Kevin Kelbie. I told him to get all this nonsense out of his head and that the only place to impress people is on the pitch. He’s got us to impress, first and foremost, and if he wants to impress anyone else he should do it on the pitch.

"He's also got to keep his image up with our fans. I told him he's been a hero here for five years and don't let that go.

"It doesn't matter what happens; if you stay here, or if you go, but let people remember you here for the right reasons and be the real Kelbie."

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

Teams:

BALLYMENA UNITED	LINFIELD
20: O'NEILL, Sean	1: BLAYNEY, Alan
2: SMITH, Michael	4: GAULT, Michael
3: COLLIGAN, Lee	8: LOWRY, Philip
4: RAMSEY, Chris	12: BURNS, Billy Joe
5: WATSON, Albert (c)	13: LINDSAY, Kris
6: STEWART, Aaron	14: BURNS, Aaron
7: CUSHLEY, David	16: O'KANE, Aidan
8: WATSON, Aidan	17: ALLEN, Curtis
9: SMITH, Andy	21: ERVIN, Jim
10: KELBIE, Kevin	22: MULGREW, Jamie
11: LOCKHART, Darren	25: McALLISTER, Mark
Substitutes	-
1: NELSON, Dwayne	2: DOUGLAS, Stephen
Not Used	Not Used
13: SURGENOR, Mark	18: ADDIS, Stuart
Replaced David Cushley (70 mins)	Not Used
14: OKUNAIYA, Ormon	19: TOMELTY, Jamie
Replaced Kevin Kelbie (90+4 mins)	Replaced Aidan O'Kane (70 mins)
15: McCONNELL, Nathan	20: GARRETT, Robert
Replaced Chris Ramsey (90+3 mins)	Not Used
16: DEANS, Ryan	23: MUNSTER, Paul
Not Used	Replaced Aaron Burns (46 mins)
Yellow Cards:	-
Unknown	Unknown
Red Cards:	-
None	None