The free kick comes to nothing as Kyle McClean drags his effort wide of the target.

Kieran Offord and Ben Kennedy collide in a sliding tackle on the edge of the Ballymena penalty area.

Referee Evan Boyce awards the free kick in Linfield's favour in a very threatening position.

A penalty shout falls on deaf ears as Sean Graham goes down under pressure from Ross Clarke.

It is waved away by Declan Hassan but Larne are very much in the ascendancy here.

David Jeffrey
Former Linfield & Ballymena manager on BBC iPlayer

Isaac will feel he could have and should have done better. It took a little nick of Kieran Offord's head and that meant he couldn't get the touch he was looking for.

Another opening for Linfield as Kyle McClean stands up a cross to the back post where Isaac Baird - perhaps not expecting it to come to him - takes a heavy touch and the chance disappears.

Linfield have had a lot of the ball inside the Ballymena half in this opening quarter of an hour.

David Healy will be pleased with his side's bright start to this game.

Linfield threaten again as Dane McCullough's low cross into the penalty area eludes everyone - including keeper Sean O'Neill - but no-one can take advantage and Matthew Clarke tidies up the danger.

Kieran Offord wriggles clear in half a yard of space and fires in a low shot which Ballymena keeper Sean O'Neill beats out at his near post.

A well-worked corner sees Mark Randall pick out Sean Graham arriving from the edge of the box.

His first-time effort cannons back off the post, hitting Matt Ridley who had no time to react before rolling wide.

David Jeffrey
Former Linfield & Ballymena manager on BBC iPlayer

It was very careless from McCullough. It was an outstanding tackle from Ben Hall. If he hadn't have got there then it was in the back of the net.

A chance for Ballymena inside the opening 50 seconds as Success Edogun pounces on a misplaced Dane McCullough pass and surges in on goal but he is thwarted by an excellent covering tackle by Ben Hall.

Referee Evan Boyce blows his whistle and Ben Kennedy kicks off the action at the Showgrounds.

We're underway at Inver Park on Declan Hassan's whistle. The Crues get us going attacking the Church End with their noisy supporters at their backs.

BBC iPlayer

Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin: "There's never a good time to play Linfield. We have to look after ourselves. It's another huge test but it's one we're looking forward to."

Linfield manager David Healy: "We've started this season okay. We're coming off the back of a positive performance against a good Glentoran side. The conditions are nice, we're ready to play and we're looking for small percentages of improvements tonight."

Ballymena make two changes from the side which suffered an injury-time defeat at Cliftonville on Saturday.

James Hood replaces Patrick McEleney – who limped off early in that game – in midfield, while Daithi McCallion starts a league game for the first time this season, with Jack O’Reilly dropping to the bench.

The United line-up also includes Stephen O’Donnell after the club successfully appealed his weekend red card on the grounds of mistaken identity.

Linfield boss David Healy gives the nod to the same 11 players who started Friday night’s ‘Big Two’ draw at Glentoran.

Ballymena United: O’Neill, Toure, McCallion, O’Donnell, Nelson, Clarke, Jarvis, Hood, Kennedy, Edogun, McCurry.

Subs: Breen, Lafferty, Gould, O’Connor, O’Reilly, Thompson, McNickle.

Linfield: Johns, Brown, Hall, East, McCullough, Shields, Baird, McClean, Millar, Fitzpatrick, Offord.

Subs: Walsh, Roscoe-Byrne, McKee, Yates, Archer, Taylor, Morrison.

Image source, BBC Sport

Both managers make one change from their weekend victories for this rearranged fixture.

For the visitors, Jordan Forsythe misses out and is replaced by Lloyd Anderson. That makes a place on the bench which is taken by Aureli Karrabecaj.

For Larne, James Simpson comes in for Conor McKendry who drops to the bench.

Larne: Ferguson, Ridley, Gallagher, Randall, Graham, Magee, Nolan, Cosgrove (C), Bent, Lusty, Simpson

Subs: Graham, McKendry, O'Connor, McEneff, Moore, Harkin, Wallace

Crusaders: Tuffey, Forsythe, Weir, Brooks, Dunlop, Easton, O'Rourke (C), Williamson, Clarke, Anderson, Barr

Subs: Dibaga, Hamilton, Thorndike, Bryden, Od. McCart, Ol. McCart, Karrabecaj

Image source, BBC Sport

Larne interim manager Gary Haveron says his side will need to be back to its best when they host Crusaders in Tuesday night's rearranged Irish Premiership game at Inver Park.

The Invermen made it four league wins in a row and four successive clean sheets in achieving those victories when they saw off bottom-of-the-table Glenavon 1-0 on Saturday.

Crusaders bounced back from their recent indifferent form by clinching a 3-0 win at Dungannon Swifts on Saturday and Haveron is expecting a difficult task against Declan Caddell's team.

"They are maybe not quite as direct as they once were but you know what the Crues are about. You know what Deccie's about.

"He'll want his players fully committed and going at it.

"They'll take confidence from their win at Dungannon as the Swifts were coming off their first win the previous week, so we know it's going to be a really tough ask.

"We'll have to be back to our best. I'm expecting a better level of performance than we got against Glenavon but if we get the same result I'll be just as happy."

Crusaders manager Declan Caddell says his players will relish tonight's trip to Larne as they seek to build on the weekend win against Dungannon Swifts.

The 3-0 win over last season's Irish Cup winners halted a four-game losing streak in all competitions, but they face a much sterner test on Tuesday with the Invermen making it four victories on the bounce with a 2-0 win at Bangor on Saturday.

Caddell is hoping his team's performance against Dungannon will prove to be a spark as he seeks consistency.

"It's another huge game, but those are the games we want to be involved in," he told BBC Sport NI after Saturday's win.

"We've got a lot of new players here, and it'll be good for them to test themselves against Larne. The original fixture was postponed earlier in the season, so at least we can catch up.

"For me, today was the pinnacle of what we want: an all-round team performance, defensively and going forward. Now we need to carry that through week after week, but going to Larne will be a different game."

Image source, Pacemaker