'I'd like to think the players will be hurting' - Ervin

Ballymena United boss Jim Ervin wants to see a response from his players after derby disappointment at the hands of Coleraine on Friday night.

The Sky Blues twice responded to going a goal down, efforts from Johnny McMurray and Ben Kennedy cancelling out strikes from Jack Scott and Jamie Glackin.

But after the latter was sent off, for an off-the-ball incident that preceded Kennedy's successful spot kick, Ervin's side struggled against ten men with goals from Rhyss Campbell and Matthew Shevlin giving the Bannsiders the 4-2 victory.

"I'll self-evaluate my performance. We've lost a game so my performance hasn't been up to scratch," Ervin said.

"I'm first to admit that and big enough to take that. I'll go back and look through every decision I made, whether it was right or whether it was wrong. I hope the players will go back and do that themselves.

"We'll be showing them where we could have improved, what we could have done better.

"I'd like to think the players will be hurting, I would like to think that."

Ervin, who said Coleraine's desire to "run more" despite their numerical disadvantage was the most disappointing aspect of the defeat, was especially displeased by the impact of his bench against the ten men.

"Subs are disappointed not to play, I get that, but there's only one way you can change that and it's by giving me a reaction when you come on the pitch," he added.

"Our substitutes didn't do that. Substitutes come on and we're asking them to make an impact, to get on the ball and go and create something.

"To be honest, the substitutions that we made tonight, they made very little impact."