Akintunde strikes late on dramatic night at the Coleraine Showgrounds

What drama at the Showgrounds!

Coleraine left it late to grab all three points on Tuesday night, coming from a goal down at half-time to win with a goal deep in added time from 'supersub' James Akintunde.

The win sees the Bannsiders keep the pressure on league leaders Larne who scored a late goal of their own to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw at home to Larne.

The gap is now six points between the top two with the Inver Park men having played a game less.

Things didn't look good for the home side in a lethargic opening 45 minutes, the efforts of back to back 120 minutes in the past week appearing to have caught up with Ruaidhri Higgins' men.

The head coach made three changes to the team which started in Saturday's Irish Cup win at Carrick Rangers and there was a lack of fluency in the opening exchanges.

And they were made to pay for their slow start when Josh Ukek broke away from Dylan Boyle to rifle home the game's opening goal to silence the home crowd midway through the first half.

Higgins rang the changes at half-time, introducing Levi Ives and Zane Okoro for Mark Connolly and Jamie Glackin, and their introduction coincided with a much better second period.

Portadown goalkeeper Alex Moore, so impressive before the break, continued to impress with a string of fine saves to deny Joel Cooper twice and Will Patching from a well-taken free-kick.

But he was powerless to prevent Cooper from finally dragging the home side back into the game, the former Linfield man drilling a low left foot shot from 25 yards into the bottom corner with 15 minutes remaining.

The hosts continued to press for an equaliser but Portadown passed up a chance to go in front again when Eamon Fyfe blasted over the crossbar after outmuscling Charles Dunne inside the Coleraine penalty area.

And they were made to pay deep into added time when second half James Akintunde got on the end of an inswinging Will Patching free-kick to score in front of the Railway End.

Cue fantastic scenes as manager and coaching staff rushed to join the players in celebrating what could yet prove to be a valuable three points in the race for the Gibson Cup and European football.