Oran Kearney believes a taxing schedule had a part to play in his side's performance in the 2-2 draw against Glenavonplaceholder image
Oran Kearney believes a taxing schedule had a part to play in his side's performance in the 2-2 draw against Glenavon
Whilst conceding his Ballymena United side weren’t in top gear, Oran Kearney praised his players for ensuring they had something to show for their efforts against Glenavon at The Showgrounds.
The Sky Blues played out a 2-2 draw against bottom-of-the-table Glenavon as both teams saw their respective leads quickly evaporate.
Towards the tail end of the first half, Ballymena hit first through Kian Corbally but Glenavon responded just moments later through a Paul McGovern finish. Incredibly, United thought they regained their lead in stoppage time but Aaron Jarvis’ header was ruled out for offside.
The Lurgan Blues then went 2-1 ahead when Nathaniel Ferris profited from Peter Campbell’s being saved, but they were quickly pegged back as Sean Murray’s shot took a nick off two Glenavon defenders on way into the net by the hour mark.
In truth, the visitors looked the more likely to get the winner but the game finished 2-2.
“My immediate reaction after the game was, I think we've played a lot better in the last three, four, five games and took nothing out of some of those games than we've played tonight,” Kearney told Ballymena United’s social media platforms.
"I thought tonight we were bitsy at times. I just don't think we were quite at it. We looked a bit lethargic for me at times as well.
"But the big credit I'll give the guys is we've, albeit going ahead at half time and then to concede the goal, it looks as if we go ahead again and I don't know how it's offside from live...it'll be interesting to watch it back on a replay.
"Then to go behind is tough and I think they've every opportunity to feel sorry for themselves because it hadn't been a good performance and we hadn't been our sprightly selves.
"But we show enough to get back into the game and then more importantly, there's a few big tackles towards the end and a few big moments where we're throwing bodies in front of it, which is really important. It shows that people are up for the fight.”
“They are, I suppose, fighting and scrapping to try and get closer to the teams above them.
"At times we made that hard for ourselves and I just thought some of our decisions tonight maybe just weren't at the level that we've been in the last couple of weeks.”