Coleraine hail goal-hero Josh Carson

Carson fired home deep into stoppage time to earn the visitors the win when they admittedly weren’t at their best.

Speaking after the game McKendry highlighted the efforts on Carson, who looked impressive as part of a midfield three with Stephen Lowry and Ben Doherty, who was also on the score sheet.

“Josh’s work rate is superb you can never question him,” he said. “He had put a big shift in there in centre midfield and to break beyond the strikers at the end and to finish it was excellent.

“We got out of jail on a couple of occasions late on and to steal the points at the death was crazy.”

It was a disappointing second half for the Bannsiders after looking sharp in the first.

If truth be told the home side probably should have taken all three points, if they had managed to take one of the chances which came their way after the break.

A mixture of poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept Coleraine in the hunt for a vital win.

“I thought first half was pretty even and I thought Ards edged it in the second half in terms of their counter attack,” said McKendry.

“They looked very dangerous and we over committed and were over expansive at times.

“Chris Johns was excellent again though. He does not like a lot of credit or stuff like that but he is absolutely superb.

“Last week and tonight he proved himself in the one on one’s and they had a goal ruled out for offside but he was unbelievable.

“His attitude is top drawer.”

While Coleraine were delighted to extend their unbeaten run Ards boss Colin Nixon was left bemused as to how his side finished pointless again.

“I ripped through the players there,” he said after the game.

“There was some great performances, but we end up with nothing again.

“That’s too many times, we’re not learning.

“If Coleraine had had the chances we had they would have won six or seven.

“But we don’t put the ball in the net. We switch off at the back and concede a stupid goal. It’s heartbreaking, but we have to keep going.

“Anyone who saw us tonight will see that we’re playing some lovely football despite being bottom of the league.

“We intend on getting out of it the right way, we’re just making it more difficult week-on-week.

“Bar the second half against Cliftonville we’ve been playing really well.

“But we’re not taking our chances. I actually thought two of them were harder to miss tonight.

“To then lose the goal is unacceptable.

“If you want to stay in the Premiership you can’t be plucky and courageous and play well and have nothing to show for it.

“It’s heartbreaking, but again we’ve contributed to our own downfall.

“We totally played Coleraine off the park in the second half, I don’t know how many chances we’ve created, some really gilt-edged, but we didn’t take them.

“We were also relying on the referee standing up and making decisions, I thought the referee was really poor today. It was a definite penalty, but we don’t get it.

“We switch off in the last minute and are sucker punched again.

“That game sums up our season, it has happened to us so many times.”