Irish Premiership: Ballymena Utd 3-2 Warrenpoint Town

Ballymena saw off the challenge of 10-man Warrenpoint to earn a 3-2 league victory at the Showgrounds.

David Cushley smashed in the opener and he added a penalty before half-time after Town keeper Jonathan Parr was red-carded for a foul on Allan Jenkins.

The visitors pulled one back with Stephen McCabe's chip before Darren Boyce's volley made it 3-1.

Stephen Hughes netted to set up a tense finish but the Sky Blues held on and they move into the top six.

United controlled the first half and Boyce twice went close with headers before a defensive mistake gifted Ballymena a 24th minute lead.

A mix-up between Johnny Cowan and John Boyle let in Cushley and the striker fired across Parr and into the Town net.

Parr's dismissal on the stroke of half-time resulted in Shaun Parr going into goal but he couldn't keep out Cushley's spot-kick.

Daniel Hughes set up fellow substitute McCabe to lift the ball over advancing keeper Aaron Shanahan and make it 2-1 after 67 minutes.

Boyce smashed into the roof of net on 83 minutes before Hughes completed the scoring two minutes from time with a long-range strike which squeezed under Shanahan.

"A few stern words were needed in the second half to get it right, we needed better quality," said Ballymena boss Glenn Ferguson.

"It's a boost getting the three points but we'll have to perform better in next Saturday's Irish Cup quarter-final against Dungannon."