Match Reaction

Kearney looking at the bigger picture

COLERAINE boss Oran Kearney spoke to Jonathan McNabb after watching his side lose back-to-back pre-season friendlies…

The Bannsiders were beaten by Portstewart in the annual Wes Gregg Memorial match last Friday night, before losing to Portadown at Shamrock Park yesterday afternoon.

Despite being disappointed to suffer two defeats, Kearney was delighted to see the return of Lyndon Kane, Stephen Lowry and Alexander Gawne from injury.

“I think the key thing about this week was to get 90 minutes into everybody and make that first step of ensuring that the players get a full game,” he said.

“It’s not ideal having the two games in quick succession and what you’re trying to do is spread the load, and we have done that in both fixtures with young players getting games.

“With that it makes it a little bit more complicated and not as natural as it normally looks, but the key thing is that everybody came through the 90 minutes, including Lyndon, Alex and Stevie Lowry against Portstewart.

“Aaron Burns came off with a precaution, he was sore from last week and didn’t train on Tuesday night, so we were all aiming for 60 to 65 minutes and despite feeling good, we took him off so no other damage was done.

“It’s a huge plus for us having Stevie, Lyndon and Alexander back.

“There’s a certain way I like to play or DNA so to speak and the likes of those two and Aaron Traynor provide pace, power, high tempo and there wasn’t a lot of that in different areas against Portadown.

“There is a huge amount of work still needed to do, but we have to keep the big picture in mind as it’s about building and getting people ready for the start of the season.”

The Bannsiders were without injured trio Ian Parkhill, Josh Carson and Cormac Burke for the two fixtures but Kearney insists the midfielder’s will return to action in the near future.

“Parky had an injury at work and he has slightly hurt his back,” he added.

“Josh has a slight niggle and he could have played over the two fixtures, but to err on the side of caution, I told him to stay at home and we will see him on Tuesday night.

“Cormac has a wee niggle on his knee and there’s no point risking players at this stage.

“There is nothing too serious with those three guys that would see them out for a long period of time.”

Kearney revealed he will be patient in his quest to bring new ‘quality’ additions to The Showgrounds.

“I’ve had a good response from the players and they’ve worked really hard over the last couple of weeks,” he concluded.

“The squad is still slightly big and inflated in numbers and that will probably change over the next month or so.

“The key thing is that we keep getting the hard work in and more importantly people like Aaron Traynor, Stephen Lowry and Lyndon Kane made a smooth recovery as we need our best players back out on the pitch.

“There’s nothing to report at the minute in terms of arrivals as you’re probably stuck in the middle part of the off season were most quality players are hedging their bets to see how the season starts.

“If there is going to be movement it will probably be in the middle to the end of August.

“It’s about lining up your ducks for that stage.”