McAree faces old friends

COLERAINE will look to re-discover their winning touch as they welcome Dungannon Swifts to The Showgrounds (KO 3pm)…

The Bannsiders were heavily beaten on their last outing as Andy Mitchell (2), Mark Sykes and Jordan Jenkins sealed a 4-0 win for Glenavon at Mourneview Park. As for the visitors, they were also beaten as Jordan Forsythe’s early goal was enough for Crusaders to bank all three points. The Swifts also lost captain Ryan Harpur in midweek as he joined Ballymena United, with defender Chris Hegarty being given the armband.

This will be the first meeting between the two sides this season as the previous encounter was postponed due to the Stripes’ involvement in the Irn-Bru Cup. Coleraine had the upper-hand in all three fixtures last season as they celebrated a 3-1 success at Stangmore Park in August 2017, before securing successive 1-0 wins in the other two fixtures. The outstanding fixture between the two sides have been set for Tuesday, February 5, 2019 at Stangmore Park (KO 7:45pm).

Coleraine boss Rodney McAree will come up against his former employers for the first time since taking the reigns at The Showgrounds and he will be without the services of Aaron Traynor through injury, meanwhile Aaron Burns and Stephen O’Donnell remain injury doubts. There was a major boost last Friday night as Ian Parkhill and James McLaughlin both returned to the matchday panel following injury.

Speaking ahead of the fixture, boss McAree has challenged his players to find consistency in their results.

“After last week’s game I was just looking forward to a game of football, I don’t really mind who it is against,” he said.

“The next game couldn’t come quick enough as you want to get this out of your system as quickly as possible.

“Consistency is a big thing for me, some weeks we have been excellent then the next week we have been poor.

“We have to try and get a bit of momentum and started producing the same level of performance week in, week out.”

As ever, those unable to attend can follow the latest developments via the club’s official Twitter account (@ColeraineFC).

Supporters are reminded that entry is via valid matchday cards/season tickets only.