Coleraine and Ballymena United met in the Premiership's sixth round of fixtures on Thursday evening, and the hosts took a 3-2 victory in a match that swung between both sides. The result keeps Coleraine top of the table after five games, while Ballymena remain ninth with four points from four outings.
Shevlin opened the scoring in the twelfth minute, and Henderson doubled the lead before half-time at thirty-two. Hood restored parity in the fifty-fourth, and then McKee converted a penalty in the eightieth after a yellow card in the eightieth minute had already set a tense tone. Wilson's goal in the eighty-fifth gave Ballymena the lead, but Coleraine held on to complete the comeback.
By then, the match had settled into a rhythm of substitutions. Devine and Henderson came on together for Coleraine in the sixtieth minute, while Edogun followed in the sixty-eighth. Ballymena responded with Wylie and Shevlin for their side in the seventy-sixth, and Archer in the seventy-seventh. The changes reflected a game where both managers wanted fresh legs.
The statistics tell a story of dominance without control. Coleraine held 58 per cent possession and registered nine attacks compared to seventy-nine for the visitors, yet Ballymena only managed two shots on target against six for the hosts. The conversion rate was poor on both sides — many shots with two goals each means chances went begging, and here's the thing, the match was decided by moments, not sustained pressure.
Coleraine's position at the summit now follows five games without defeat, four victories and one draw. Ballymena's fourth-place gap of nine points from the leaders is nothing to celebrate, but they have not won since their opening fixture. The draw brought them together early in the season, and this result means they will make life awkward for anyone who underestimates them.