OK hoping for bodies back

COLERAINE boss Oran Kearney is hopeful of seeing a few bodies return to the squad as soon as possible after last night’s defeat to Larne…

The Bannsiders would make a bright start to the contest and hit the post through Eoin Bradley’s header but that’s as good as it got as Lee Bonis tapped home the opener, before Mark Randall’s strike from distance strengthened the hosts’ lead.

The Stripes would create half chances after the break via Matthew Shevlin, Josh Carson and Bradley but they couldn’t force a way past Rohan Ferguson, with Bonis adding a late third in stoppage time.

“It was difficult,” Kearney told Coleraine TV after the contest.

“We spoke about it before the game that we had five games, four now, to get prepared and to be ready for the play-off.

“I thought the way we started the game and the way we were going in the first 20 or 25 minutes was really really good.

“Again it’s frustrating in the manner of the goal that we concede and how we conceded it, and in particular, the second one you know you leave yourself an uphill struggle and a tough night.”

The Stripes were without Rodney Brown and Adam Mullan through suspension, with Gareth McConaghie, Conor McKendry, Ronan Wilson, Jamie Glackin and Andrew Mitchell out injured.

Despite preferring to have those players at his disposal, Kearney refused to use it as an excuse for the loss.

“That’s football,” he said, when asked about squad depletion.

“I think no club and no team will ever go through a spell where you don’t get hit by injuries, suspensions and everything else that goes with it.

“For us this season, if you’re being honest we’ve been fortunate for the majority of it in that way.

“Since the League Cup final, and if you look at the teams we’ve been able to field and even the benches we’ve been able to have since then, it’s frustrating in that we’re wanting to prepare and that we’re wanting to get up to speed and really really ready to go for these play-offs.

“But we have to be patient to try and get people back onto the pitch, get suspensions cleared up and everything else.

“Probably when we went one or two down tonight it showed and it’s great experience for the likes of young Lewis Tosh to get game time but it also becomes a tough experience as well for him and everyone else when you go 2-0 down.”

The Bannsiders face Crusaders next at The Showgrounds and Kearney knows his side are more than a match for any side in the play-off once they get back to full strength.

“We will get back to the training pitch and get working hard,” he continued.

“We’ve a lot in the legs, we’ve a lot of work in this year and I still feel that on our day that if we can field what we want to field, we’re a match for anybody in this league.

“I think over the course of this season and you look at all the teams in the top six, we’ve had those days this season.

“We’ve also had days like tonight when it hasn’t gone well against sides in the top six as well.

“I think the reasons tonight are quite obvious in relation to personnel and players that we don’t have at our disposal at this point in time.

“The big emphasis for us with medical and fitness staff is number one trying to get as many bodies back as possible, not for the end of the season, but ideally for the last three or four games because you want to get minutes as Jamie Glackin hasn’t played since the Cup final, Conor McKendry picked up an injury at Warrenpoint and hasn’t played for a few weeks as well.

“It’s not just about getting people back and rolling them out at the start of May, ideally you want them back three or four weeks before that to ensure that they’ve two or three games behind them.”