Ballymena United 3, Warrenpoint Town 2

David Cushley scored twice as the Sky Blues made hard work of seeing off the Premiership strugglers who had goalkeeper Jonathan Parr sent off just before half-time.

Ballymena started the game in the knowledge that victory would take them back into the top six after Glenavon’s draw at Crusaders on Friday night.

And it was an attack-minded line-up sent out by Glenn Ferguson with midfielder Alan Davidson and striker Darren Boyce in the starting XI, while defenders Davy Munster and Mark McCullagh dropped out.

And it was the home side who fashioned the first opening inside two minutes when a cross from the left was flicked on but Darren Boyce could only head straight at keeper Jonathan Parr when well placed.

Then a barnstorming run by Jim Ervin ended with the full-back’s final through ball just having too much weight for Alan Davidson’s run with the ball travelling through to keeper Parr.

Ballymena’s approach play was often intricate but their route to the opening goal was an unusual one on 24 minutes.

Warrenpoint’s Marty Havern was just inside the Ballymena half when he passed the ball back into his own half looking for support. Remarkably, the ball trundled all the way through the visitors’ defence and the alert Cushley seized upon it to race clear and steer the ball past the advancing Parr from a tight angle.

The first half remained a low-key affair until on the stroke of half-time with a game-altering incident.

Aaron Stewart’s long ball forward cleared the Warrenpoint defence and Allan Jenkins stayed onside to latch onto it and as the Scotsman rounded Parr, the keeper brought him down for a penalty.

It appeared that Jenkins may have been going away from goal but referee Damien Basketfield, in his first Premiership game, had no hesitation in showing the red card.

Midfielder Shaun Parr took over in goal but his first task was to pick the ball out of the net as Cushley calmly sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot.

Warrenpoint began the second half with their third different goalkeeper of the afternoon as skipper John Boyle took over the gloves but United had to survive an early scare when keeper Aaron Shanahan failed to collect a Stephen Hughes corner but the Dubliner recovered to grab Padraig Smith’s header from virtually on the goal-line.

At the other end, Allan Jenkins spurned a glorious opportunity to seal the outcome when he headed Stephen McBride’s teasing left-wing cross over from six yards.

Warrenpoint forced a way back into the game on 68 minutes when substitute Ruairi Devlin provided a pinpoint through ball for fellow replacement Stephen McCabe to neatly chip the ball over the advancing Shanahan.

The visitors came close to grabbing an equaliser with 12 minutes left when Padraig Smith diverted Devlin’s cross-shot over the bar from close-range with Ballymena’s players looking despairingly towards the assistant referee.

Ballymena looked to have put the game beyond the reach of the plucky visitors on 82 minutes when Darren Boyce fired a thumping volley past Boyle from an Ally Teggart cross.

But again Warrenpoint fought back with a fortuitous goal with two minutes left when Stephen Hughes’ speculative shot from distance somehow slipped through the grasp of keeper Shanahan and ended up in the net but Ballymena held on for a vital three points.

Ballymena United: Shanahan, Ervin, Taylor, Stewart (sub McCullagh 55), McBride, Kane, Davidson (sub Taggart 83), Jenkins, McLellan (sub Teggart 66), Boyce, Cushley. Subs (not used): Surgenor, Kelly.

Warrenpoint Town: Parr, King, Boyle, Cowan, Mulgrew (sub McCabe 46), S Parr, Smith, Freeman (sub Devlin 64), M Hughes, S Hughes, Havern (sub D Hughes 46). Subs (not used): Kearns, Grant.

Referee: Damien Basketfield (Banbridge).

* See Tuesday’s Ballymena Times for full reaction.