However ten minutes later Glentoran moved back into the ascendancy when skipper Colin Nixon converted a spot-kick awarded for a William Murphy handball.
Linfield drew level once again five minutes into the second half thanks to an Oran Kearney effort from eight yards only for the Blues to suffer a serious setback just seven minutes later when Ferguson was dismissed by Dublin based referee David McKeon for a foul on Nixon.
Then, on 69 minutes, Linfield moved into the lead for the first time with Kearney's second of the evening after a Tim Mouncey corner from the left wasn't cleared by the home defence.
It was a lead that lasted just four minutes, though, when a Gary Browne rebound dragged Glentoran back into the game when an initial Lockhart effort was blocked.