Ferguson slams '˜shambolic' United display against Coleraine

Glenn Ferguson tries in vain to cajole a reponse from his Ballymena United players during Friday night's home defeat by Coleraine. Picture: Press Eye.

The Sky Blues boss was particularly scathing about his side’s inability to create chances after the dismissals of Coleraine duo Sammy Morrow and Mark Edgar.

“We were in the game at nil-nil at half-time. Neither keeper had a real save to make at that stage.

“We didn’t play well in the first half, we didn’t pass it well enough.

“We got into a couple of good areas with Johnny Frazer, who got into a couple of good areas and cut the ball back.

“But then in the second half, our free kick went into their box and the keeper catches it and we’re caught on the counter-attack again, which we worked on during the week and then for the second goal we’ve let the runner go.

“Alan Blayney thought it was his ball but he didn’t get a shout. One of our players was told to cover that area, which he didn’t do, and the keeper just thought he had to pick it up but James McLaughlin has nipped in, which he’s good at. He’s a predator and we just didn;t have that in their box.

“When they’re down to nine men it was if it was a case of ‘over to you Claude’ with players waiting for somebody else to make something happen.

“We didn’t show enough quality and we didn;t get the ball into good enough areas and we didn;t make the keeper work.

“We didn’t do enough against the nine men and that’s what disappointed me.

“I’ve questioned the players and challenged them, do they have the desire because I know they have the ability. It’s whether they have the desire on a night against their biggest rivals to show what they can do and tonight they didn’t do it.

“Losing to anyone is disappointing but the big thing is the manner in which you lose. The League Cup quarter-final defeat against Coleraine earlier in the season really disappointed me because we were poor that night and it was an opportunity to maybe reach another final.

“But tonight I just can’t understand why the players can’t go out against their biggest rivals and give everything they have.

You have to want to win games and score goals.

“Credit to Coleraine, when they went down to nine men they killed the game off and wasted time and when they had to keep the ball, they kept it better with nine men than we did with 11.

“Our boys didn;t show the confidence to want to get on the ball and make things happen.

“If you get a goal back within 10 minutes you’ve got a chance but it’s just really hard to take,” added Ferguson.