We stopped doing the things we were doing against 11 men, fumes Ballymena United boss Jim Ervin after derby loss to Coleraine
Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin says his side "let themselves down" after failing to capitalise on having an extra player during Friday night's defeat to Coleraine.
The Sky Blues would suffer back-to-back Premiership defeats as Coleraine secured a 4-2 derby day win on the Ballycastle Road.
The game was poised at 2-2 after an hour as Johnny McMurray and Ben Kennedy netted equalisers for Ballymena after Jack Scott and then Jamie Glackin had given Coleraine the lead.
Kennedy's equaliser was the result of a penalty after Glackin was dismissed following an off-the-ball incident involving Caolan Loughran.
Despite having a man advantage, the Braidmen failed to kick on and were punished for defensive lapses as Rhyss Campbell and Matthew Shevlin gave Dean Shiels his first win as Coleraine head coach.
"I thought when it was 11v11 we coped with how they played, we created chances," Ervin said.
"I'm probably more disappointed that when they went down to 10-men we thought we didn't have to work, we didn't have to run as much as them, we didn't have to move the ball as well as we had done when they had 11 on the pitch.
"We've all been in the game long enough to know that it can be more difficult to play against 10 men than it is 11 for some strange reason.
"We seemed to develop the mindset that we didn't have to do what we did when playing against 11. That's what has disappointed me the most.
"The goals that we have given away tonight are very poor, especially when the opposition go down to 10 men and they were able to find spaces which shouldn't be there.
"That's just a mentality of not wanting to work as hard against 10 men as you do against 11."
Ervin was also left disappointed with the lack of contribution made by his substitutes.
He added: "It looked like we didn't make any subs as they didn't impact the game.
"It's the bit that frustrates me about football as players are disappointed not to be in the squad or that they're on the bench.
"But you have to be ready to make an impact whether it be five minutes, 10 minutes of half an hour. They have to give me something to think
about.
"The subs we made tonight made no impact whatsoever. I would probably argue if they got on the ball or not, maybe once or twice.”