Jordan Cadden clears the ball from a Coleraine opponent.
Ballinamallard Utd III 3
Coleraine Colts 3
Ballinamallard Youth missed the chance of creeping away from bottom spot in the Northern Ireland Youth League when they were held to a draw at home to fellow strugglers Coleraine.
It was a case of letting a 2-0 lead slip again for Derek Sharpe side, who allowed Coleraine back into the game just before the break.
“We really needed to get three points on Saturday and looked like we were going in the right direction. But we let a two goal lead slip. We didn’t control the game enough and need to learn to control situations like this much better,” said Sharpe.
The home side opened the scoring after a good early spell. They had already struck the crossbar when David Clements made good progress down the right to drill a good ball into the six yard box which deflected off a defender and into the Coleraine net.
Fifteen minutes later they were two up. This time Doherty and Cadden combined to set Jordan Breen up for an easy tap in at the back post.
But then Ballinamallard lost control of the game. Keeper Jordan Coalter had to pull off a number of good saves before they pulled one back. A near post corner wasn’t dealt with by the home team and Coleraine’s striker headed into the net.
It wasn’t too long before it was all level.
A long ball through the centre wasn’t dealt with between central defender Morris and the keeper, allowing the Coleraine striker to nip in to head home.
The home side fell behind 20 minutes later when they conceded a poor goal, but in a late comeback drew level when Ryan Morris headed home a Jordan Cadden corner.
Both sides went for the win in the end, but neither were able to add to their tally, although Willy Donaghy did go close with a brilliant effort which was demanded an outstanding stop from the Coleraine keeper.