Glenavon 4-0 Ballymena Utd
Glenavon thumped Ballymena 4-0 at Mournview Park to tighten their grip on 2nd place in the Danske Bank Premiership.
It took just 8 minutes for Andrew Mitchell to open the scoring, after a couple of defensive mistakes by Ballymena.
Michael Gault headed a throw-in back towards his own goal which inadvertently released the striker down the left.
Mitchell had nobody in support and fired a left-footed effort from a narrow angle which goalkeeper Conor Brennan awkwardly bundled back over his line.
Some fine Glenavon line-up play in the 20th minute by Bobby Burns and Mark Sykes released Josh Daniels inside the box. He looked at have scored, but his effort found the side-netting.
While there could possibly be some doubt about Mitchell's first goal being his own, there were no such concerns about the second.
A long free-kick was floated towards the big striker by goalkeeper Jonathan Tuffey in the 24th minute which he chested down, turned, and then volleyed with his left foot from 20 yards.
Glenavon were sailing and soon found themselves 3-0 up.
Bobby Burns robbed Michael Gault of possession and drove down the Ballymena left before slipping a shot beyond Brennan in the 33rd minute.
2 minutes later, Ballymena's miserable afternoon got even worse when Kyle Owens was sent off for a late lunge on Burns on the halfway line.
Michael Gault was then booked for a late tackle on Andrew Mitchell, and the resulting free kick saw Glenavon extend their lead.
Andrew Hall thumped it from fully 35 yards and the ball sailed beyond the desperate dive of Conor Brennan, despite it hitting the net far from either post.
Ballymena certainly improved after the break, with chances falling to Conor McCloskey and Cathair Friel despite being down to 10 men.
However, Glenavon's utter dominance of the first half killed it as a contest, and most of the 2nd half passed by without incident.