My players were unfortunate in penalty shoot-out drama but we must now repeat the same level of performance, demands Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin

The Sky Blues came into Tuesday night's derby clash on the back of a 5-2 defeat to Loughgall, but were on top for large spells against the Bannsiders without showing a killer instinct in front of goal.

With the scores level 1-1 after 120 minutes, the second round tie in the BetMcLean Cup would ultimately be decided on penalties as Coleraine won 18-17 on spot kicks - the joint third longest penalty shoot-out in football history.

Despite acknowledging the soreness in the manner of the defeat, Ervin is hoping for the same endeavour from his side as they host Glenavon in Sports Direct Premiership duty this afternoon.

“It wasn't a nice way to lose, don’t get me wrong, but we asked for a reaction from Saturday (defeat to Loughgall) and we got that," he said.

“The fans saw that and they noticed the effort and commitment the players put in on Tuesday night.

“We got that response, we were unfortunate not to go through but that happens as penalty kicks are a lottery.

“The best teams in the world lose penalty kicks, it’s just a complete lottery.

“The fact some players were hitting three penalties says a lot about where it was on Tuesday, as it was crazy and surreal.

“I’ve never been involved in a penalty shoot-out that’s lasted as long.

“We were unfortunate not to progress but we’ve taken the positives as it was a super performance.

“I believe we should have gone through in normal time and even extra-time."

The Cup tie allowed Ervin to make several changes to his starting line-up and he admits he now has a selection headache for the visit of the Lurgan Blues as those who were given an opportunity shined.

Glenavon weren’t in action during the week as their second round tie away to Limavady United had to be postponed due to floodlight failure.

“As I said to the players, we need to carry this on and get this on a more consistent basis because we’ve shown we can play," he stressed.

"We’ve shown we’re a threat and it’s up to us now to get that more consistently.

“If we keep that level of performance then we’ll have more good days than we'll have bad ones.

“It’s up to us to try and get that level of performance out of the players every single week and we will be doing everything we can to make that happen.

"We made a couple of changes coming into the game to try and freshen things up and give other people an opportunity, and not one of them let us down.

“They took their chance, they took their opportunity and they’ve left us with some thinking to do ahead of Saturday.

“You want a challenge as a manager from your players, it’s perfect as it gives you headaches and that’s why you’re paid to do this job."