Ballymena boss Jim Ervin rages about a ‘stonewall penalty kick’ but insists Play-Off only at half time
Ballymena United boss Jim Ervin is sure his men can turn it around
Institute's Oisin Devlin in action with Ballymena’s Alexander Gawn
Institute's Conor Quigley tried to fend off Ballymena’s Fraser Taylor
Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin was fuming that his side weren’t awarded a penalty during Tuesday night’s Premiership Promotion/Relegation Play-Off 1-0 first leg loss at Institute.
The Sky Blues gaffer was shocked that referee Evan Boyce and his assistant Shane Geary both failed to signal for a spot-kick after it looked as though Stute defender Caoimhin Porter handled Sean Brown’s right-wing cross.
“The one thing I will ask is how the linesman on the far side didn’t give a penalty,” insisted Ervin.
“I’ve watched it back three times and it’s a stonewall penalty kick.
“When you come into big games like this you expect the men in charge to get the big decisions right and that’s a huge decision that they didn’t get right.
“The linesman is on that side — how does he not see it?
“When you’re down at the bottom end of the table, you do get that.
“There’s a lot at stake and you expect the officials to get the better decisions right.
“Evan (Boyce) and his linesman at the far end, I haven’t had an explanation but I’d love to know why it wasn’t given.”
The 38-year-old, in his first year in management, felt there wasn’t much between the sides, but he did concede there wasn’t much anyone could do to keep out Daniel Lafferty’s second-half wonder strike.
“Yes, of course we are disappointed, but I don’t think there was much between the two teams,” he added.
“A wonderful strike from Daniel Lafferty obviously wins it for them but it’s only half-time.
“I don’t think we did enough to win the game, I think a draw would have been a fair result.
“In the first half, the first 25 minutes we started really brightly, at a high tempo, got behind them quite a lot and caused them problems down the sides but then they came into it.
“We got in at half-time at 0-0 and we asked the boys to step it up a little bit but we didn’t come out of the blocks in the second half, certainly not until the last 15 minutes anyway where we played at a higher tempo and put them under much more pressure.
“I thought they tired but we didn’t punish them.”
The Braidmen’s gaffer knows that Friday evening’s second leg is massive for the club.
“We have to get them up and ready because Friday night is a massive night for Ballymena United Football Club,” he continued.
“It’s a huge night, a huge 90 minutes of football and it’s still all to play for as it’s only 1-0.
“I thought we had a really good backing on Tuesday night and I’m disappointed for them that we haven’t been able to give them something to go home with.
“They’ve spent their money all season to come and watch us and give up time with their family.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t give them anything to cheer about but it’s all to play for and with a really big home backing, we will hopefully give the fans a lot to celebrate.”
