SKY BLUES HOLD OFF LATE REDS RALLY
Ballymena United moved into second spot following victory over Cliftonville by the odd goal in five at the Showgrounds.
Leading scorer Ben Kennedy broke the deadlock on 14 minutes with a successfully converted penalty awarded after Michael Newberry had clipped Jonathan McMurray.
But the Reds hit back just before the break through Jonny Addis' glancing header from Ronan Doherty's free-kick.
Jim Ervin’s side regained the advantage just past the hour after Kym Nelson sent a thumping header past David Odumosu after Josh Carson had sent in a free-kick, and they moved further in front a few minutes after that when another Carson delivery - this time a corner - was glanced home by Ethan Devine at the near post.
Cliftonville pulled a second goal back with a couple of minutes remaining after Nelson brought Doherty down in the area with Joe Gormley stepping up to knock home the resultant penalty.
Ballymena United: O’Neill, Nelson, Lafferty, Rocks, Jarvis, Kennedy, Moore, Scott, McCallion, McMurray, Carson subs Johnston, Gawne, Place, O’Donnell, Brown, Devine, Devlin
Cliftonville: Odumosu, Addis, Newberry, Kearney, Lowe, Conlan, Doherty, Piesold, Gormley, Glynn, Steven subs Breen, Pepper, Pettifer, Hale, Donnelly, Ojo, Leppard
Substitution 
Substitution 
