Last Time Out

NINE-man Coleraine would earn a point against Ballymena back in September as James McLaughlin’s opener was cancelled out by Scot Whiteside’s header…

Date:

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Result:

Ballymena United 1-1 Coleraine

Goals – Whiteside (’45 mins); McLaughlin (’13 mins)

Report:

NINE-man Coleraine would secure a deserved derby day point against Ballymena United…

Coleraine boss Oran Kearney made two changes to his starting line-up as Gareth McConaghie came into the heart of the defence to replace Lyndon Kane, with Eoin Bradley partnering James McLaughlin upfront.

The first chance arrived on five minutes as Ballymena worked the ball out to Steven McCullough on the left-hand side. The full-back drove forward and hit an effort harmlessly over the crossbar.

On 13 minutes, Coleraine broke the deadlock as a long throw-in by Adam Mullan found Eoin Bradley inside the box. The powerful striker held off his marker before rolling the ball across the six-yard box for James McLaughlin to profit from close range.

McLaughlin would threaten again on 26 minutes as Aaron Jarvis weaved his way through the Ballymena midfield to find the in-form striker, but his shot and turn failed to test Ross Glendinning. A minute later, the Bannsiders were ruing their luck as Bradley beat the offside trap and crossed for McLaughlin, and when it looked like the Moss-Side man would have an easy tap-in, he pulled up injured and could no longer continue.

Coleraine would be reduced to 10 men on 37 minutes as Stephen O’Donnell cleared the ball from safety, but referee Tim Marshall adjudged the skipper to have a high boot and gave him his marching orders for a second bookable offence.

The Sky Blues made their numerical advantage count on the stroke of half-time as Andy McGrory’s corner-kick was met by the head of Scot Whiteside who found the bottom corner.

The second-half started with Ballymena controlling the majority of the ball and Coleraine hoping to threaten on the counter attack. The first real opportunity of note landed at the feet of substitute Shane McGinty who could only fire wide after drifting into a good position.

On 65 minutes, Coleraine would spurn a glorious chance to re-take the lead as fantastic through ball found the run of Bradley who bore down on goal, but his chipped effort was smothered by the body of Glendinning.

The last 25 minutes would belong to David Jeffrey’s side who spurned three glorious chances to earn all three points. After Johns tipped over McGrory’s free-kick, the stopper was once again called into action to deny Ryan Mayse from close range after he latched onto Aaron Burns’ header. From the resulting corner-kick, Burns could only fire over from close range.

On 90 minutes, Coleraine almost suffered a sucker-punch as Aaron Canning’s under-hit backpass was seized upon by Cathair Friel, and with the goal at his mercy, he could only fire wide.

The Bannsiders ended the game with nine men when, in stoppage time, Adam Mullan was shown a second yellow for bringing down Ross Lavery when clean through on goal.

Line-ups:

BALLYMENA UNITED: Glendinning, Whiteside, Harpur, Friel, McCullough, Carville (McGinty ’62 mins), McGrory, Balmer (Mayse ’46 mins), Ervin, Millar, Burns (Lavery ’75 mins).

Subs Not Used: Williamson (GK), T. Kane, Kelly, Brown.

COLERAINE: Johns, Mullan, Canning, Jarvis, Doherty, Lowry, McLaughlin (Maciulaitis ’29 mins) (Carson ’65 mins), Bradley, McConaghie, O’Donnell, Parkhill (Glackin ’80 mins).

Subs Not Used: Gallagher (GK), Douglas, Gawne, McGuckin.

Referee:

Tim Marshall

Highlights:

HERE