STORY OF THE MATCH: Portadown 1 Ballymena 0 – Teelan spoils Kearney first-game hopes
Oran Kearney’s hopes of kicking off life as Ballymena United boss with away success over Portadown finished in disappointment after James Teelan grabbed the only goal of the game.
92: YELLOW (Portadown) – Wylie
91: YELLOW (Ballymena) - O'Reilly
90: SUB (Portadown) – Quinn on for Teelan
85: Edogun drills in an angled shot but McCarey is alert to block with his legs
83: McGeouch lobs the ball in behind Portadown and Edogun gets a glancing header first before the out-rushing McCarey but Altintop steps in to clear 82: YELLOW (Portadown) – Teelan
80: SUB (Ballymena) – O’Reilly on for Lafferty
75: GOAL – Portadown 1 (Teelan) Ballymena United 0
Teelan shows pace and composure to take full advantage of Chapman’s hopeful upfield punt from deep by racing forward and slotting home with Ballymena unable to react to his run
71: YELLOW (Portadown) - Thompson
69: SUB (Portadown) – Ukek on for Isamala
65: SUBS (Ballymena) – McEleney and Hood on for Jarvis and O’Connor
60: Show of class as McCartan, under pressure inside his own half, displays clever footwork and balance then drive to advance Portadown play and earn a free-kick
57: SUB (Portadown) – McCartan on for Gibson
56: Neat move down the right ends in a low teasing cross by Toure across the face of goal but just beyond a sliding Clarke at the far post
51: YELLOW (Ballymena) - Edogun
H-T: Portadown 0 Ballymena United 0
A goal ruled out for each side and lengthy treatment required to help home players MacKinnon and Thompson over a first half of few in-play talking points
37: YELLOW (Ballymena) - O'Donnell
34: Altintop plays a ball across the edge of his own box to MacKinnon, with his attempt to pass back leaving McCarey under pressure from a chasing Corbally but the home goalkeeper's touch helps avoid the heavy price of conceding off the defensive lapse
30: Edogun fires goalwards and the deflection off McCullough drops towards Toure but Chapman is in position to stop the threat
25: Fyfe's in-swinging corner-kick from the left drops home via the far post - but the whistle of referee Declan Hassan rules out the goal. Ballymena earlier had a goal ruled out for offside
24: McCullough's pass in behind finds the run of Fyfe and his first-time cross is hacked away at the cost of a corner-kick by Lafferty
19: Gibson at a stretch but just unable to gain any purchase after Teelan's clipped ball into the box is flicked off McCallion’s head to drop a few yards from goal
15: McCarey's misplaced kick-out falls for O'Connor, who attacks from just inside the Portadown half before firing goalwards but without the accuracy to maximise the opportunity
13: Opening for the visitors as Edogun rolls the ball across the edge of the penalty area into the path of the supporting Jarvis but the first-time effort on the run clears the crossbar
11: Promising build-up play involving Teelan's reverse pass and a McCullough ball in behind but Toure tracking back cuts out the threat before Gibson can connect in the box
9: Teelan's glancing header no trouble for Breen after Wylie's first-time ball off a McCullough pass - patient and probing start by both clubs understandable given Oran Kearney's midweek introduction as Ballymena boss
PORTADOWN: Aaron McCarey, Divin Isamala, Baris Alintop, Lewis MacKinnon, Lee Chapman, Ben Wylie, Steven McCullough, Jordan Gibson, Eamon Fyfe, James Teelan, Gary Thompson.
Subs: Alex Moore, Jamie Rea, Josh Ukek, Ryan Mayse, Seamus McCartan, Rhys Annett, Ben Quinn.
BALLYMENA UNITED: Declan Breen, Daniel Lafferty, David Toure, Aaron Jarvis, Daire O’Connor, Stephen O’Donnell, Matthew Clarke, Dylan McGeouch, Success Edogun, Daithi McCallion, Kian Corbally.
Subs: Sean O’Neill, Alistair Gould, Patrick McEleney, Jack O’Reilly, Joel Thompson, David Taylor, James Hood.
Referee: Declan Hassan.