Larne boss Tiernan Lynch refuses to criticise players for failing to find the back of the net against a resolute Coleraine as they move two points clear in the Premiership title race

Whilst the Inver Reds stretched their advantage at the summit to two points, they missed the opportunity to go even further ahead with title challengers Linfield and Cliftonville not in action this weekend.

Both teams would have chances to make the breakthrough as Andy Ryan and Levi Ives both went close either side of half-time for the visitors, with Matthew Shevlin spurning the best opportunity of the game for Coleraine as he fired wide with just four minutes remaining.

Lynch stated that whilst he had no complaints with his side's performance on the north coast, he was left a bit frustrated that they failed to turn possession into notable goalscoring opportunities.

"We know how difficult this place is to come,” he said.

"It's not somewhere that's been overly kind to us over the last number of years.

"I think Coleraine have to take great credit, they were very solid, they were rigid and we probably didn't do enough to break them down.

"We were dominant in terms of possession and we kept the ball really well but we lacked that bit of killer instinct.

"It's very hard to be critical of the players especially after a performance like that at a place like this.

"Coleraine were very solid and didn't move too far today.

"You're always conscious and worried when you get into situations like that where you need that goal to try and open the game up to get them out there but leave gaps and spaces elsewhere - so it's a double-edged sword.

"Sometimes they work for you and sometimes they don't.

"Coleraine had one or two really good chances themselves, so whilst I'm disappointed we didn't take all three points, it is very disappointing to find any criticism in the performance."

The result means Coleraine edge even closer to securing the final top-six spot and boss Oran Kearney was full of praise for his side’s endeavour against the reigning champions.

"It was a big performance and it's a credit to Larne that the levels they've got to where you have a fair idea of the game you're going to enter and how tough it's going to be,” he added.

"I have kept saying it the last month to six weeks where there's shoots there to show that when we get our good players on the pitch we can more than hold our own.

"We've built on the last few weeks with another strong performance today.

"You could possibly look at it and say a draw is a fair result but you get greedy with Matthew Shevlin's chance in the last two or three minutes where it went within a width of the wrong side of the post.

"Overall, we can't be too disappointed with our day's work.

"It bodes well for us and we are finally starting to get a consistent team out there bar Kieran Farren this week who picked up a wee niggle.

"Beyond that, we've had the same line-up for the last three or four weeks which is the first time this season we've been able to do that."