Ballinamallard United 1
Ballymena United 3
Ballymena picked up three points this afternoon in their effort to catch Coleraine.
They were set on their way by Mark Surgenor after just four minutes. Surgenor collected a ball from the left flank and unleashed an unstoppable effort from 25 yards which had keeper Stefan McCusker beaten and went in off the underside of the Ballinamallard crossbar.
The Ferney Park side levelled after 40 minutes when the ball broke to Liam Martin in the six yard box following a corner. The nippy striker turned beautifully to shoot home past keeper Tim Allen.
But It was Ballymena who controlled the second half with Neal Gawley curling a beautiful free kick just inside the near post after 69 minutes and Matthew Tipton fiinished the scoring off on 91 minutes when he broke from a Ballinamallard attack to chip keeper McCusker from the edge of the penalty area.
Ballinamallard United
McCusker, McMenamin, Stafford, Kee, Martin, Lafferty, McCartney, McKenna (Courtney 75), Campbell (Hutchinson 64), Crilly, McLoughlin
Subs A Murphy, Carters, Hutchinson Phair, Courtney