Ballinamallard are the only team in the premiership still without a win after they went down by one goal to Glenavon.

Johnny Lafferty, Stuart Hutchinson and Liam Martin came back into the starting eleven in place of Cathal Beacom, Raymond Foy and Ryan Campbell as Whitey Anderson made a several attacking changes in an attempt to bounce back from the heavy defeat against Cliftonville and secure their first win of the season.

In a scrappy opening it took almost ten minutes for Glenavon to carve out the first shot, but Braniff curled his shot wide of the far post. Lafferty was the brightest of the Ballinamallard players and he could have opened the scoring after 19 minutes but his shot was saved by the diving Blaney in the Glenavon goal. A minute later the home side almost took the lead but after working their way through the heart of the Mallard’s defence Martyn has his effort well saved by Murphy.

Midway through the half Glenavon were the dominant side and Ballinamallard cleared from under the bar after a corner and Murphy had to save with his legs to keep his goal intact. At the other end Elding had a shot from the edge of the area saved, but the best chance of the first half fell to Lafferty. The ball fell to the striker 12 yards out when Glenavon failed to clear a free kick, but he blazed over the bar.

The second half started well for the Mallards but the crucial moment of the match came after 50 minutes. McKeown’s long throw ins had been a threat all night and when the defence failed to clear Braniff fired in at the far post.

The visitors responded well to the setback and dominated much of the remainder of the game, but could not find the net. As in the first half the best chance fell to Lafferty, but after good work from the tricky Liam Martin, Lafferty could only fire straight at the keeper.

Campbell came in for the ineffective Elding and curled a shot into the arms of the keeper and then found the net only for an offside flag to cut short his celebrations.

The defeat leaves Ballinamallard joint bottom of the table with Warrenpoint who picked up their first points with a win over Dungannon Swifts.