COLERAINE missed out on a place in the Europa League with this defeat to Crusaders at Seaview.

After a somewhat quiet opening Matthew Snoddy created perhaps the first decent chance of the game when, on 18 minutes, he saw a curling effort tipped over by Gavin Cullen.

For Coleraine Curtis Allen came closest in an otherwise scoreless first half when young Crues 'keeper Jack McCrea turned an effort past the post.

Then, towards the end of the half, Snoddy came close again only for Cullen to palm the ball over.

The deadlock was broken on 77 minutes when Jordan Owens knocked home the rebound after a Michael O'Hanlon shot was parried out by Cullen.

But within two minutes the Bannsiders were back on level terms through Stephen Lowry after he scrambled the ball over the line after an Allen snapshot was pushed onto the post.

However, the Crues eventually sealed the points with four minutes remaining in spectacular fashion after Ryan McCann scored direct from a free-kick into the top left corner of Cullen's goal.

Crusaders: McCrea, Gibson, Mitchell, Wright, Leeman, Snoddy, McCann, Watson, Halliday, Owens, Gargan subs O'Hanlon (replaced Mitchell 69), McCready (replaced Watson 87), Dillon (replaced Halliday 78), King (not used), Harris (not used)

Coleraine: Cullen, Beverland, Ogilby, Lowry, Allen, Harkin, McIlmoyle, Canning, Boyd, Owens, Black subs McNulty (not used), Hegarty (replaced Owens 67), Scullion (replaced McIlmoyle 55), Jennings (replaced Boyd 62), Bingham (not used)

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• Ryan McCann gets to the ball ahead of Ruairi Harkin (Picture: Stephen Hamilton/PressEye.com)