Highlights: Dungannon Swifts 1-1 Ballymena United

John McGovern
BBC Sport NI Contributor

Dungannon Swifts were held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Ballymena United at Stangmore Park as the visitors played for more than an hour a player down following Scot Whiteside's first-half dismissal.

Igor Rutowski gave Ballymena the lead before Whiteside saw red for a rash challenge.

Danny Wallace equalised for the Swifts four minutes before half-time but despite dominating possession Rodney McAree's side were unable to fashion a winning goal.

Ten-man Ballymena hold firm

The Sky Blues started brightly and threatened through James Hood and Joshua Archer before taking the lead when Archer released Hood down the right.

Hood did well to keep the ball in play and deliver across goal as Alex Henderson came out to meet him, leaving Rutowski with an open goal to chest the ball into the net.

The complexion of the contest changed minutes later when Whiteside was shown a straight red card for pulling down Junior Uzokwe around 35 yards from goal.

Dungannon began to make their numerical advantage count and David Walsh produced a diving save to keep out Tiernan Kelly's powerful effort, but the resulting corner brought the equaliser on 41 minutes.

Ballymena struggled to clear at the far post before Wallace bundled the ball over the line from close range.

The Swifts controlled much of the second half as they searched for a winner, with Jamie Glackin curling narrowly wide and Uzokwe heading over from Corey Smith's cross.

Walsh was also forced to save an effort from substitute Andrew Mitchell, while Ballymena defended resolutely as Dungannon continued to send crosses into the area.

The hosts came closest to completing the turnaround late on when Sean McAllister's volley deflected off Ballymena captain Fuad Sule and crashed against the crossbar.

Ballymena survived further late pressure to secure a point, while Dungannon ended a run of two successive league defeats but were unable to find a winner.

What the managers said

Ballymena United manager Oran Kearney: "I thought our performance was so good in the first 35 minutes. We scored a good goal, had a few other sniffs as well and looked as if we were on for a really strong performance."

"It does look like Scot fouls Junior, but for me the rule is that it's a clear goalscoring opportunity as to when you would give a red card. It looks to be 40-odd yards out. I'm struggling to see how he's going to get in and get a strike away.

"The red card totally changes everything. We were going to have to suffer for big periods; probably those 60 minutes were as pleasing as the first 30 because it showed mentality, steel and a lot of resilience."

Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree: "We started the game very poorly, and I was grateful for the red card. I didn't think we would have got a point at that stage at all."

"We need to show a bit more desire to put a goal into the back of the net. That's disappointing, but we're thankful that we've got something out of it.

"Maybe a little bit of a break [following the Larne fixture postponement] comes at a welcome time. We've a lot of boys carrying little niggles early in the season, so we can use the next few weeks as a little bit of recovery, but also get back on track."