Ballymena United boss David Jeffrey believes ‘good fortune’ wasn’t on his side as they were beaten by Coleraine on Tuesday night

Jeffrey, however, stressed that his side refused to lie down and feel sorry for themselves as they spurned two or three good chances in the second-half.

“I can't fault my players in any shape or form,” he said.

“I thought we contributed very, very well.

“When I think of the number of opportunities we created, chances we had, maybe six or seven on target, and the amount of crosses we put into the box.

“We hit the post and hit the bar.

“I'm reliably informed that Davy McDaid's goal - the ball was not all out.

“So those are the things that go against you.

“We've got to give credit obviously to Coleraine and the goals that they scored but I thought they were preventable on another day.

“So, I can't fault the effort and commitment from the players, can't fault their endeavour, their resilience, they never lay down by any stretch of the imagination.

“But on occasions, you know, when we needed a little bit of good fortune it wasn't there.”

The defeat means the Sky Blues are now winless in their last nine Danske Bank Premiership contests – but Jeffrey was quick to reiterate a difficult fixture list.

“We've had a very tough run of games let's not get carried away, it's because of the opposition we've had,” he added.

“We've had Coleraine tonight, prior to that in the league we had Glentoran, Larne, Crusaders - we've had two good performances against Larne and Glentoran.

“We deservedly got a point against Crusaders.

“We're coming off the back of extra-time on Saturday against Ballyclare and Coleraine had the weekend to prepare and you could see that they were sharper at the beginning of the game.

“But there's only one way you can go and that's forward.

“You can only stand up and be counted.

“Obviously with Glentoran next Tuesday and then Larne the following Friday - those are big challenges but that's what football is all about.”