The Sky Blues travel to Dungannon Swifts tonight (Tuesday) in their final game of 2009, trying to break what has become a major hoodoo.

You have to go back to February 2007 for Ballymena's last victory over the Tyrone side, when goals from Paul Brown and Kevin Kelbie gave United a 2-1 win at the Showgrounds.

Since that day, however, the next 10 meetings between the sides has yielded just one point and NINE defeats for Ballymena.

Last season, Roy Walker's first in charge, more than one third of Dungannon's total of 35 points came from four victories over Ballymena, as the Stangmore Park side finished bottom.

And the misery has continued this season with defeats in each of the two league meetings to date

"People talk about bogey teams but I don't really go in for that idea," Walker told Times Sport.

"It's simply a case that if we are organised and do the jobs we have to do, then we stand a good chance of winning matches – that goes for any team, not just against Dungannon.

"We have to be cognisant of what Dungannon's strengths are and be brave enough to make a few tweaks of our own.

"We also have to think about the best way we can get at Dungannon but also mindful of keeping things tight at the other end.

"If you look at our performances, we have beaten the top three sides (Crusaders, Glentoran and Linfield) but we have maybe struggled in games where the other team hasn't come at us to the same extent," added Roy.

Walker is unlikely to make many changes to the panel which was due to play Coleraine in the postponed Boxing Day game, with striker Andy Smith still waiting to start his six-game suspension.