MICHAEL O’Connor says Coleraine will be looking to replicate the same performance and result from the last time they hosted Dungannon Swifts at The Showgrounds…

A hat-trick from Matthew Shevlin – added to Danny Wallace’s own goal – sealed a 4-1 victory against the Swifts back in November.

However, O’Connor acknowledged how impressive the Swifts have been this season as they beat the Bannsiders on route to reaching this year’s Irish Cup final, where they will meet Cliftonville early next month.

“I’ve watched Dungannon a lot this year and we’ve played them three times,” he said in a pre-match press conference.

“We are still hurting from the Irish Cup exit when they beat us.

“Rodney has got them playing good football and I watched them against Bangor last week.

“They struggled for 20 or 25 minutes in the second-half when they had to defend long balls.

“But great credit to Rodney and the players he has brought in, they’ve got a good group there and they’ve players who want to roll their sleeves up.

“But we want to attack the game like we did at home against them earlier in the season when we won 4-1.

“We want to replicate that performance and that result.”

O’Connor further provided a positive squad update as several members of the first-team panel near a return, with Levi Ives’ injury at Glentoran not as bad as first feared.

He explained: “Graham Kelly has started running now which is good for him.

“He’s been out for a long time but I’m not sure if we can get back for the end of the season, although it’s great he’s back out onto the grass.

“Levi Ives done his shoulder and whilst we thought he might have dislocated it, he hasn’t but he could be out for a few weeks.

“Knowing Levi, he will put his hand up and say he’s fit for Saturday – so we have to manage that but we are hopeful of having him back at some point in the split.

“Alfie Gaston, who has got the boot off, is now back in the gym and hopefully he will be back on the pitch soon.

“Kyle Spence has trained the last two days to sharpen him up again after missing the last two or three weeks.

“The type of player Kyle is…he needs to hit top speed and he’s getting closer to being available for selection.”

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