Ballymena United boss Jim Ervin was pleased that his side were able to fight back from a goal down to beat Carrick Rangers 2-1 at Taylors Avenue.
Kym Nelson cancelled out Nedas Maciulaitis opener, before Ryan McNickle completed the comeback with a low finish as the Sky Blues got back to winning ways.
“Delighted to get the three points the conditions were absolutely awful, it wasn’t a day for any sort of football. It was a day to play the conditions and thankfully we got the three points,” Ervin told BBC Sport NI.
“I’m not sure of what the stat is but it is not pleasant from ourselves going a goal behind and coming back to win, but we showed a lot of character and other than the first 15 minutes, we were on top and were good value for the three points.”
McNickle and Daire O’Connor were handed first starts of the season and both impressed, with Ervin happy that they contributed to the victory after they had to bide their time for minutes following summer moves to the Showgrounds.
“For one reason or another they haven’t made the squads. They have had to work hard away from the place and be patient and it’s two different scales,” he explained.
“One [McNickle] is stepping up two levels, and one [O’Connor] is coming back from full-time football and is finding it difficult to adjust, so there have been key factors around them not participating.
“We haven’t felt the opportunity was right, but we had to freshen things up and those two boys did well today.”
Carrick Rangers boss Stephen Baxter was frustrated that his side slipped to a fourth successive defeat, despite the fact they were well in the game.
“We were very competitive, I felt we could have been three goals to the good at half-time with the chances we had. It was a hair’s breadth between the two teams,” he said.
“We haven’t done enough second half, our second half performance wasn’t as good as our first.”
