“IT feels more like a 4-0 defeat.”
That’s how Oran Kearney summed up his Coleraine side’s 1-1 draw in Lurgan as Andy McGrory scored a 93rd minute equaliser to earn Glenavon a share of the points.
And the Bannsiders had only scored through Stephen Lowry three minutes from the end, after having spent the majority of the afternoon with the better of the play.
It saw Coleraine drop two vital Danske Bank Premiership points but remain in second spot in the table.
“We all know in football that late goals can be hard to stomach,” Kearney added, “but fair play to Glenavon.
“They won the corner, they even had their goalkeeper up for it, and they’ve got it in the net to get a draw.
“At half time we came in disappointed because there was nothing between the two teams but in the second half I thought we performed well.
“We dominated spells of the game, and even when we scored the goal we looked comfortable but then they won the corner and there was carnage.”
Glenavon boss Gary Hamilton said he felt McGrory’s goal was a little bit of luck that his team badly needed.
“I thought Curtis Allen propably should have had a couple for them but it just wasn’t his day for finishing,” he added.
“We showed great character at the end. We went for it and didn’t sit back and accept that we were beat.
“I feel that we have deserved more out of games recently and Saturday’s result was probably the first time that we got something that we didn’t deserve.
“It is that little bit of luck that we have maybe been missing this season. Sometimes you need that to give you a lift and we have to take this positive result into our next game and try and build on it.
“We have managed to get a point out of this game when it maybe looked beyond us. The players deserve credit for battling away and getting a hard-earned point.”
Guy Bates was at the centre of everything for Glenavon in a first half that was devoid of any real chances.
He supplied a cross for Conor Hagan on 13 minutes which was saved by Gavin Cullen.
Coleraine did find the net six minutes from the break but Michael Hegarty’s header was ruled out for offside.
Curtis Allen really should have put the visitors ahead when Eddie McCallion found himself in all sorts of trouble – his attempt at a back pass played the striker though but Andy Coleman did well to block the shot.
Coleraine were to get what they thought was the winner just before the end – and in spectacular fashion.
Lowry picked the ball up midway inside the Glenavon half, dribbled past four defenders and fired a left footed drive past Coleman to ensure they got the points.
But super-sub McGrory was to have the final say three minutes into stoppage time, bundling in Kyle Neill’s cross to get the Lurgan Blues a share of the spoils.
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