Newry City 1-2 Ballymena United

Ballymena United claimed a hard-fought 2-1 win away to Newry that saw them move to first place in the Danske Bank Premiership.

The visitors scored through Lecky and McGrory, with City having Coleman sent off before Glendinning found the net in reply.

Newry's disappointment at the result will have been exacerbated by the fact that they almost entirely dominated the first half. Thomas McCann curled a shot over with 14 minutes played, and Darren King flicked a header wide of the post a minute later, with City passing the ball well and looking calm in possession.

However, in their first real period of control, the visitors took the lead wholly against the run of play.

With 36 minutes played, James Knowles showed superb feet to evade several Newry tacklers inside the box before casually chipping Coleman from the angle. His effort deserved a goal, but came back off the post into the path of Adam Lecky who tapped his side into a lead they perhaps didn't deserve.

Newry attempted to regain control, but somehow found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline.

A minute before the break, Andy McGrory doubled the visitors' lead after playing a neat exchange with Reece Glendinning before turning home the latter's cross from close range.

The first half ended with a mass brawl following a tackle on Mark Hughes by goalscorer Lecky. There were yellow cards for both, with the ref also cautioning home midfielder Declan Carville.

Newry were left further aggrieved at the break after having a goal ruled out for apparent blocking at a corner.

Any faint hopes of a Newry comeback looked to be extinguished just before the hour when home keeper Andrew Coleman was sent off for clashing with Cathair Friel. The City keeper insisted that he merely bumped him with his shoulder, but the officials punished him for the off the ball incident.

However, Newry began to replicate their dominance of the first half despite their numerical disadvantage, and with 68 played Dale Montgomery lashed them back into the game, scoring at the back post.

Ballymena were forced to spend a large part of dying period of the game on the back foot, but held on for the points to send themselves to the top of the league.