Ballymena United manager Oran Kearney feels “greenness and that little bit of naivety” cost his side during their 2-0 Premiership defeat to leaders Larne – with Success Edogun’s red card a prime example.

The Sky Blues went 2-0 down inside 30 minutes after Andy Ryan converted two penalties and any hopes of a comeback were extinguished just moments into the second half when Edogun was given his marching orders for kicking out at Aaron Donnelly.

Ballymena were awarded a free-kick for Donnelly’s challenge but were then reduced to 10-men seconds later due to Edogun’s reaction.

"He's definitely lashed out, which would definitely be a red card,” said Kearney. "He's adamant there's a stamp and there's contact before that, and for me, why lash out?

placeholder image — Referee Tim Marshall sends off Ballymena's Success Edogun. (Photo by Desmond Loughery/Pacemaker Press)

"To me, if there's a stamp, and it's what players do nowadays, scream and roll, because that seems to work for everybody.

"And sadly, it's just the greenness that I find in our squad at the minute, there's a lot of young players, a lot of players who are finding their way in the game.

"And to me, if there was contact made like that, you're thinking, ‘bingo’ – the last thing you do is get sent off.

"If there was a stamp, and if the stamp has been made, and by all accounts it has, the last thing we should do is end up 10 against 11 for 40 minutes if we've been the player they've stamped on.

"That's just that little bit of greenness and that little bit of naivety that, to be honest, I've seen an abundance of since I've got here.”

With Glenavon continuing to build momentum in their mission to avoid the drop following Saturday’s 3-0 win against Portadown, Ballymena are still in danger of being dragged into a relegation scrap.

They sit seven points ahead of the Lurgan Blues and are four better off than Crusaders, who occupy the promotion/relegation play-off position.

Ballymena have won just two of 11 league matches under Kearney after the former Coleraine chief succeeded Jim Ervin in December and he was left disappointed by the manner of goals conceded on Saturday.

"That's the frustrating part (two penalties),” he added. "We knew where Larne have been at for the last couple of weeks, that confidence hasn't been high.

"Even if we turn around at nil-nil it’s not the end of the world at half-time, because you know you can go and have a good rattle at it with the wind in the second half.

"Particularly the first penalty, probably if it is very dubious or a 50-50 one, the longer it stays nil-nil, the more chance you have of probably seeing out that first period. And then the red card as well.

"We're only five minutes into the second half. Ideally, the pitch is horrible, but the conditions of the breeze have made it very hard for the team playing in the breeze in both fixtures we've had with Larne in the last couple of weeks.

"I suppose it just feels like we've let them off the hook with that.

"You go down to 10 men, five minutes into the second half, and it's very, very hard then to go and have a real go at it.”