Skipper disappointed with draw

COLERAINE defender Stephen O’Donnell admits a killer touch in the final third was lacking as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Ballymena United…

The Bannsiders would take the lead through Lyndon Kane’s penalty kick but the full-back would be denied a second goal from the spot as he failed to find the target after Sean O’Neill upended James McLaughlin.

This sparked the visitors into life with O’Donnell accepting responsibility for losing the run of Caolan Loughran who headed into the net from Michael Place’s corner kick.

“We’re disappointed,” he told Coleraine TV post match.

“When you take the lead in the derby and then have the opportunity to score again to make it 2-0, I think you really need to take it.

“From our part, it was my man that scored from the corner so individually and as a team, we are disappointed with today.

“We did have chances to go and win the game but at the same stage if we don’t concede, then it’s 1-0, it’s game over and we win.

“In terms of the whole game, I would say we probably dominated 70 or 80 minutes of it.

“For large spells, we moved the ball well, had more chances, had more entries into their final third and I think for us today that final pass or that final bit of quality in terms of putting the ball in the net was just missing.

“I know we score and it’s been disallowed, we’ve hit the crossbar and had a couple of other chances, but it was just a frustrating day to not get the three points.”

A strong wind made playing conditions more difficult but O’Donnell remarked that they weren’t using that as an excuse to not pocket all three points.

“I know particularly on my side in the first-half, it was really difficult to judge as you were expecting it to land on you and it maybe dropped 10 yards short,” he added.

“It was just everywhere when the ball was in the air but I don’t think it played a part as to why we didn’t win the game.

“I thought we still dominated regardless of the conditions, we still had more of the ball and we still had opportunities to win the game.”

O’Donnell and his team-mates face Larne on the Ballycastle Road on Tuesday night and the captain remarked that the fixture marks a good chance to try and reel in one of the teams ahead of them in the table.

“It’s a good thing for us that we are playing on Tuesday again,” he concluded.

“Whenever you have those games that you’re frustrated and disappointed with the result, it’s always about getting on to the next one.

“We’ll rest, we’ll eat well, recover over the weekend and we go into Larne who are above us in the table.

“They are one of the teams we want to overtake so we will look forward to that and we know they are a good side but we will be prepared.”