Coleraine might have moved in front as early as the third minute when they were awarded a penalty following a Thomas Wray handball. However, unfortunately for the Bannsiders, Kyle McVey's soft penalty was easily saved by Alan Blayney who correctly dived to his left.

A little later Stephen Carson got on the end of a Matt Crossan delivery to send a left-footed effort goalbound only for Gavin McDonnell to clear the ball off the line.

For the Sky Blues Kevin Kelbie crafted a couple of efforts from distance, neither of which troubled Davy O'Hare.

Coleraine continued to look the hungrier side after the break when Gareth Harkin beat what seemed like the entire home defence only to save his eventual effort saved by Blayney while John Neill had a header cleared off the line from a Crossan corner.

However, it was the Sky Blues who eventually broke the deadlock on 65 minutes when Paddy McLaughlin attempted to clear a Michael Ward cross only for the ball to come off Crossan and into the net.

And it was 2-0 to United five minutes later when the Bannsiders defence failed to deal with a Kelbie effort.

Coleraine's afternoon worsened further a couple of minutes later when substitute Richard Gibson was dismissed following an elbowing incident.