MATTHEW Shevlin says the Bannsiders’ transition to full-time football is already paying off for him on a personal level ahead of today’s trip to Crusaders…

The striker made it seven goals for the campaign in all competitions on Tuesday after netting a brace in the 2-0 win at Ballinamallard United in the BetMcLean Cup.

Shevlin says that having recovery time from that win due to full-time football has allowed him to feel “fresher and sharper” ahead of the clash at Seaview.

He said: “First of all, I think the club has done a really good job in transitioning from part-time to full-time.

“I think it’s been seamless and the professionalism around the club is really good.

“In terms of myself, I think the main thing for me is the recovery, the extra sleep and stuff like that.

“I feel a lot fresher and sharper, so, it’s going well for me so far.

“Like Tuesday night, you come home from a night like that about 12.30am or 1am, and you’re up the next morning at 6.30am or whatever…but thankfully this week I got a lie-in.”

Crusaders – like Coleraine – made a change in the dugout this summer as Declan Caddell replaced long-serving Stephen Baxter.

Shevlin says that he is expecting “something similar” under the new regime but the important thing is that the Bannsiders concentrate on themselves.

“We’ll not look too much into recent results, we’ll just focus on ourselves this week and have a game plan to go and try and beat Crusaders on Saturday,” he added.

“I expect something similar, they have a lot of the same players but they’ve also brought in a few new players, so he might have his own style of play or whatever but we’ll focus on ourselves and hopefully get the three points.”