Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin was delighted with the impact made by his bench in Saturday’s 1-0 Premiership win over Cliftonville as both Josh Carson and Ben Kennedy stepped up their returns at an important time.

The Sky Blues will likely fall short in their quest to secure a top-six finish, currently sitting eighth on 43 points, three behind sixth-placed Portadown and holding a worse goal difference with only one match left to play before the split, but their bid for a European play-off position was still boosted at the Showgrounds.

It was Kennedy, who only made his return against Larne earlier in the week after missing seven matches through injury and suspension, that laid the ball off for Kian Corbally to fire home a fine finish 11 minutes from time, which ultimately proved to be the winner.

Former Northern Ireland international Carson had also missed Ballymena’s previous six matches prior to featuring for 10 minutes in midweek and featured again as a second half substitute.

placeholder image — Kian Corbally celebrates after scoring the winner for Ballymena United. (Photo by Pacemaker)

Ballymena have, like most teams, struggled for consistency this season, winning 13 league matches, which is just one less than third-placed Larne, but also lost out on 15 occasions – a number which can only be topped by bottom two Loughgall and Carrick Rangers.

Their Showgrounds pitch continues to cause problems with Ballymena collecting the second-fewest points on home turf this term and while admitting it won’t be a game that lives long in the memory, Ervin was delighted to get what he felt was just reward.

"It wasn't the greatest of games if we're being honest, it was probably a bit scrappy at times and not so good on the eye for spectators, but you see the pitch and how difficult it is,” he told the club’s media channel. “We know that from being here regularly after Christmas.

"I thought both teams tried to play as much as they could and credit to them for doing that.

"It has been a frustrating couple of weeks where we feel we've done well in games and not got the reward we feel we deserved.

"It's pleasing to get the three points.

"We spoke to the subs before the game and told them they'd have an impact to play and they all did when they came on.

"Josh has got more minutes into the legs, Ben Kennedy has came back from a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

"He was frustrated he didn't start the game but he has came on, made an impact, got Cian on the ball and he has scored a wonderful goal.

“It has been a pleasing day, another win and another clean sheet, which I'm big on. We're glad we've managed to get three points this week."

Cliftonville assistant manager Gerard Lyttle, who was standing in for the suspended Jim Magilton, reflected: “The pitch here probably doesn’t suit the way we want to play but I thought we still tried to play.

"I felt like we dominated the majority of possession but possession doesn’t win you games and when we got into the final third, our overall decision making let us down.

“Before they scored, it seemed to be going the way of the draw because there didn’t seem to be anything in it but a mistake has cost us and lost us the game.”