COLERAINE stepped up their preparations for the new season as they played out a 2-1 win at a very hot Sligo Showgrounds...

The Bannsiders travelled south of the border for the meeting against the League of Ireland side.

Ruaidhri Higgins' men threatened first as a neat passage of play on the left-hand side resulted in Conor McMenamin's cross just being a tad too high for Lyndon Kane who couldn't plant his header on target.

On 21 minutes, Coleraine moved the ball well deep in Sligo's half and Senan Devine was slipped through by Ben Doherty but the midfielder's attempt was well saved by Liam Hughes.

However, that pressure paid dividends as the Stripes struck first on the half hour mark. After McMenamin closed down a clearance from Hughes, the summer arrival had an easy task of converting into an empty net.

But the lead barely lasted a minute as Rovers responded straight from kick-off. A through ball picked out the run of Jamie O'Donnell and he made no mistake with a composed finish.

Just after Daire Patton headed over from a corner for Sligo, the Stripes went close yet again when McMenamin and Dylan Boyle combined to tee up Doherty but his shot across goal failed to test Hughes.

The final opportunity of the first-half arrived from the boot of McDonald as the midfielder's curling effort from outside the box - after Lyndon Kane's first shot was parried - failed to find the far corner.

The Bannsiders made a strong start to the second half and threatened three times in as many minutes when Ben Wylie's free-kick was held by Hughes, with McMenamin and McDonald also failing to breach the Rovers rearguard.

Higgins then elected to make a sextet of changes in a bid to get game time into his players and Coleraine went close on 58 minutes when Doherty's cross was volleyed over at the back post by Trialist.

But the match winner would arrive on the penalty spot with around a quarter of an hour remaining after Matthew Shevlin was brought down inside the area. The same player stepped up to duly convert from 12 yards.

Coleraine had 'keeper Lewis Webb to thank as he made the final stop of the game to deny Luke Pearce from earning Rovers a share of the spoils with a fine low stop.

COLERAINE: Schofield (Webb '56 mins), Kane (Trialist '56 mins), Stewart ('65 mins), Ives (Wilson '56 mins), Doherty, Coyle, Boyle (Jarvis '56 mins), McDonald (Murray '75 mins), Devine (Henderson '56 mins), Wylie (Devlin '77 mins), McMenamin (Shevlin '65 mins).