DERBY DELIGHT FOR TEN MAN BANNSIDERS

Coleraine twice surrendered the lead, and finished with ten-men, before coming through to defeat Ballymena United in the big Friday night derby at The Showgrounds.

The Bannsiders moved in front with just under a quarter-of-an-hour on the clock. Rhyss Campbell smashed a stunning effort against the woodwork from outside the area, catching everyone by surprise, before Jack Scott pounced on the rebound to volley past Sean O'Neill.

Dean Shiels' side came close to doubling their advantage later in the half through a Matthew Shevlin volley turned around the post by O'Neill, followed by a Scott header the wrong side of the target.

At the other end Ben Kennedy had a go from a set piece 25 yards from goal but Rory Brown reacted superbly to tip the ball over the bar.

However the visitors did level five minutes from the break after Kennedy laid the ball off for Jonny McMurray to nip in and flick the ball past Brown at the near post.

Coleraine regained the lead eight minutes into the second half through Jamie Glackin after he had been teed up by Scott to send a low finish into the bottom corner.

But Glackin's joy proved to be short lived when he was sent-off moments later following a challenge on Caolan Loughran inside the area, and from the resultant spot-kick Kennedy stepped up to clinically send Brown the wrong way.

In what was a frantic few minutes Shiels' side had the ball in the net for a third time not long after that from a Ciaron Harkin finish but this was ruled out by the officials for offside.

The ten-men did bag their third goal on 79 minutes, however, courtesy of Campbell's quick reactions to slot home from close range after a corner hadn't been cleared by the visiting defence.

And they made sure of the points as late as the sixth minute of stoppage time when Shevlin got his name on the scoresheet with a close range finish following good work from Lyndon Kane.

Coleraine: Brown, Kane, Jarvis, Boyle, Stewart, Campbell, Scott, Shevlin, McClelland, Harkin, Glackin subs Little, Kelly, Spence, Carse, McLaughlin, McClintock, Burns

Ballymena United: O'Neill, Nelson, Lafferty, Rocks, Jarvis, Kennedy, O'Donnell, McCurry, Loughran, McMurray, Carson subs Johnston, Gawne, Place, Barr, Tennant, Stewart, Hood