LYNDON Kane has hailed the “close-knit” bond within the changing room as the Bannsiders get ready to lock horns with Crusaders tomorrow afternoon…

Ruaidhri Higgins and his staff were busy in the summer transfer window as a host of new bodies arrived through the door as the management team put their own stamp on things.

As a result, club captain Kane has been busy introducing his new team-mates to the club and their new environment.

However, he quickly explained how that has proven to be a seamless task throughout the past few months as Coleraine have won three and drawn one of their four Premiership assignments to date.

“It’s been brilliant, to be honest,” he said.

“I think one thing that Ruaidhri and his staff do is when they’re recruiting a player, it’s a quality player, but it’s also a very, very good person.

“They do a background check and know everything about them, so everyone that’s walked through that door has been absolutely unbelievable.

“I think people in and around the club and even people outside the club can see how close-knit of a group we actually are. We spend a lot of time together.

“There’s a lot of days that we’re in and stuff like that…but it’s a great place to be and it doesn’t feel like you’re coming to your work.

“It’s all your pals and everyone gets on really well…so it’s actually going very well.”

Kane was on watching duty on Tuesday night as the Stripes progressed in the North-West Senior Cup, courtesy of a 3-0 home win against Newbuildings United.

As attention quickly turns to the task ahead in north Belfast, the full-back knows the challenges that lay ahead.

He explained: “Obviously, they’re bringing in players that you don’t know an awful lot about, but we’ve done a good bit of analysis on them.

“We have a few Scottish lads ourselves, so you’re getting snippets of information from them on what they’re about.

“They might play slightly differently than what they used to, but it’s always been a tough place to go for us, but not just us, anyone.

“We know we’re going to be in for a tough test…but, obviously, we go there full of confidence.

“We’ve won three games out of four. If we go and put on a performance the way we know we can, then hopefully we can come away with a win.”

Supporters can get tickets for tomorrow’s game HERE.