Ballymena defeat Institute to stay in Premiership

Steven McCullough celebrates scoring Ballymena's opener against Institute

Ballymena maintained their Premiership status after beating Institute 2-0 to secure a 2-1 win on aggregate in the promotion/relegation play-off.

Institute's Oisin Devlin was sent-off before Steven McCullough put the Showgrounds hosts in front with a superb free-kick on 88 minutes.

Calvin McCurry clinched the aggregate victory by poking home three minutes from time.

United were also reduced to 10 men in added time with Daithi McCallion's dismissal.

The home side started the game with intent and had a great chance to break the deadlock on the tenth minute when Liam Mullan’s corner was cleared but only as far as Devlin, who tried to guide the ball back into the box.

However, he missed the ball which left Jonathan McMurray through on goal but the striker failed to take advantage of the chance with his resulting effort a comfortable save for Fintan Doherty.

The resilient Institute defence closed Ballymena down and Caoimhin Porter made a crucial clearance off the line to stop Fraser Taylor from taking advantage of a mistake by stopper Doherty.

Jim Ervin’s men kept pushing for an equaliser with McMurray showing great skill to keep the ball in play before cleverly deflecting the ball off Porter and into the path of Taylor, who cut into the box before sending his effort narrowly wide of the right-hand post.

The first-half chances weren’t done there though as deep into additional time McMurray gained possession off Doherty with the Institute stopper doing well to deflect his strike into the side netting.

On the hour mark Dylan King’s free header was palmed away by O’Neill with Shaun Leppard nodding the rebound over the crossbar.

Institute were reduced to 10 men on the 76th minute when Devlin was shown his second yellow card of the game for a foul on Taylor.

Just two minutes later, Ballymena broke the deadlock when McCullough, who was making his 250th appearance, sent a powerful free-kick into the top left hand corner

The home side took the aggregate lead on 87 minutes when Alex Gawne headed the ball into the path of substitute McCurry, who travelled past multiple Institute defenders before firing a strong strike over the shoulder of Doherty.

In additional time, Daithi McCallion was shown a straight red card for a late challenge, but the away side couldn’t find an equaliser in the closing seconds.