RYAN WINNER SENDS LARNE NINE CLEAR
Larne moved nine points clear at the top of the Danske Bank Premiership thanks to a goal just before the break at Inver Park.
The visitors created the first effort of note after just five minutes but Ryan Waide could only snatch at the ball after meeting a Jack Henderson pass.
At the other end Micheal Glynn saw an effort blocked and fall to Andy Ryan, but his effort went off target.
Ryan then had a go from outside the box only for the ball to hit an upright, before play switched for Rohan Ferguson to make a save to keep out a Steven McCullough free-kick.
Paul O'Neill was next to threaten for Larne with Leroy Millar then unable to steer a Glynn set piece on target.
O'Neill was denied by Jordan Williamson as Larne kept pressing, while another O'Neill effort curled just wide.
But the deadlock was finally broken on 44 minutes when Ryan stabbed the ball home from close range after an O'Neill chip into the box.
Chances were at a premium after the break, with Millar perhaps coming closest with a looping header from a Thomas Maguire pass.
The Sky Blues ended the game with ten men when keeper Williamson was sent off in stoppage time for a foul on Mark Randall.
Larne: Ferguson, Want, Watson, Sule, O'Neill, Donnelly, Thomson, Millar, Glynn, Cosgrove, Ryan subs Pardington, Kelly, Kearns, Randall, Gordon, Hutchison, Maguire
Ballymena United: Williamson, Nelson, Wilson, McDaid, Waide, McCullough, Kane, Henderson, McVarnock, Graham, Farquhar subs Thompson, Whiteside, Tweed, McGrory, Gibson, Tipton, Place
Substitution 
Substitution 
