Doc looking for improvement

COLERAINE midfielder Ben Doherty knows the Bannsiders will have to be at their best if they are to pick up maximum points from their visit to Glentoran tomorrow evening…

The two clubs are no strangers to each other with this the third meeting in just a matter of weeks.

After both of those encounters ended in a draw, Doherty is fully aware about the task in hand at The Oval.

“We had two games against them in quick succession not so long ago and we couldn’t break each other down, so we both had to settle for a share of the spoils,” he added.

“We know we’ll have to go again on Tuesday night and we’ll have to play better against them this time than we did in the two previous games.

“Hopefully this will allow us to come away with the win.”

Doherty grabbed another two goals from the spot against Cliftonville at the weekend as he took his tally to 17 for the season after Matthew Shevlin was twice fouled inside the box.

“To be fair to Shevy he put in a really good shift,” he continued.

“He put himself about and he caused them a lot of problems down the other side.

“If he keeps playing like that and winning me penalties I’ll take them all day long.

“I obviously had a lot of time to think about the second one with the break in play.

“Sometimes you might change your mind where you put it, but I just focused on hitting it well and put it in the corner.

“Thankfully both of them went in today and we came away with the three points, so I’m happy enough.”

The Stripes came into the fixture against Cliftonville with a point to prove after the midweek Irish Cup exit to Crusaders and Doherty labelled the post-split fixtures as ‘cup finals’.

“After Tuesday night we obviously needed to respond,” he concluded.

“The riot act was read after a disappointing performance from ourselves.

“We knew what we had to do today because it’s in our own hands in terms of the league.

“We have five cup finals and that’s the first one done and dusted.

“We have come away with all three points and we’ll move on now to Tuesday night.”