Linfield'sresurgence continued at Ballymena Showgrounds as they ran out 2-0 winners to make it seven games unbeaten.
Goals in either half from Chris McKee and Jimmy Callacher, on his 350th game for the club, secured the points for the Blues and moved them up to fourth in the table.
Chris Shields late penalty miss was the only disappointment for Linfield in an otherwise impressive performance.
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Unsurprisingly Ballymena United stuck with the same eleven which had beaten Crusaders on Monday.
Linfield also won during the week but David Healy made five changes to the side which had dumped Glentoran out of the County Antrim Shield.
One of those returning, Chris Johns, was called into action inside five minutes after a Ross Redman corner wasn't properly cleared.
Douglas Wilson got on the end of the loose ball, but his header was straight at the Blues goalkeeper, who saved comfortably.
The hosts went close again on 22 minutes as David McDaid picked up the ball 30 yards out from goal and surged into the box before placing a shot narrowly past the far post.
At the other end Cammy Palmer had an effort blocked in front of goal as we moved towards the half hour.
From the resulting corner Linfield broke the deadlock.
They kept the ball alive from Kirk Millar's delivery, Callacher managing to get a flick on for McKee to volley home his first goal of the season.
The Blues went close again from another Millar corner ten minutes before the break as McDaid glanced a near-post header wide of the target.
Ballymena were almost gifted an equaliser three minutes after the restart as Sam Roscoe gave up possession to Ryan Waide, but he shot straight at Johns.
It proved costly as Linfield doubled their advantage from another Millar corner on 51 minutes.
This time Callacher found space to get a shot away firing home from close range.
Mulgrew was sent sprawling in the box by O'Neill with two minutes to go, but the normally reliable Shields crashed his spot kick off both posts before it was cleared to safety.
League leaders Larne fought back from a goal down to take all three points at home to Dungannon Swifts thanks to a Paul O'Neill brace.
After what was a fairly scrappy first half the home side gifted the Swifts the lead two minutes before the break.
Goalkeeper Jack McIntyre came out of his box to clear the danger but lost possession and Ryan Mayse fired the loose ball into the empty net from 40 yards.
The lead lasted only five minutes into the second half as Paul O'Neill levelled things up after a mistake by Declan Dunne.
The striker bagged a second eight minutes from time after great work by Ben Doherty.
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