Barry Johnston might have broken the deadlock after just three minutes when he collected a Mark Patterson free-kick to shoot from 20 yards only to fire straight at Davy O'Hare.

And Patterson had the ball in the net four minutes later only to fall foul of the offside trap.

Coleraine's best effort of a pedestrian first half was a Richard Gibson effort on 39 minutes which he fired high and wide after leaving his marker floundering.

The Reds came closest to finding a way through around the hour mark when Chris Scannell had an effort blocked from a Patterson corner while Kieran O'Connor's rebound was cleared off the line.

Scannell threatened again on 73 minutes when he had a header deflected just wide while, with nine minutes remaining, O'Connor was thwarted again when another shot was turned onto the bar and away to safety.