Indeed, with every other top flight match falling foul of the torrential rain it could be argued there were enough incidents here to cover several games.

Stephen Baxter's Crusaders bossed the first half, coming close on a number occasions to breaking the deadlock.

Eamonn McAllister perhaps had the pick of the attempts when he teamed up with Mark Dickson to force home 'keeper Michael Doherty into a finger-tipped save onto the roof of the net.

Eamonn Doherty also threatened for the visitors with a 25-yard effort which sailed just past an upright while Stephen Coulter and Colin Coates directed promising headers goalbound.

'Stute were reduced to ten men on 55 minutes when Paddy McLaughlin was dismissed after picking up a second yellow card.

However Ryan Semple fired them in front 11 minutes later with a clipped effort over Aaron Kerr at the back post but his joy lasted only ten minutes when he also felt the wrath of referee Stephen Weatherall, also collecting a second booking and joining McLaughlin in the dressing room early.

And that was how it stayed until stoppage time when Gareth McKeown popped up to earn a point for the Crues when his free-kick took a deflection past the unlucky Doherty.