Match Reaction

OK: “We didn’t get carried away”

COLERAINE boss Oran Kearney believes the introduction of four new players yesterday afternoon were like new signings as they ended a two month wait for a win in the Danske Bank Premiership…

The Bannsiders secured their first Premiership win in eight outings as Rodney Brown, an own goal and a spot kick from Lyndon Kane sealed a 3-0 win against Carrick Rangers at The Showgrounds.

Speaking to Coleraine TV after the match, Kearney acknowledged that the recent results had affected the camp but no panic stations were in operation as they remained in sixth spot in the Danske Bank Premiership table.

“It’s great to win and whether you like it or not, it affects you and it affects everybody,” he said.

“You know we’ve raised the bar massively in the last few years and we’ve a level of expectation now throughout the board, throughout the players, throughout the staff, throughout the fans, throughout everybody of where we want to be.

“The last month to six weeks has been frustrating and if you’d have told me standing here after the Linfield game that it would have taken until the end of January to pick up our next three points in the league with how things had gone until that point, I’d have struggled to see it.

“Sadly that’s football and I don’t think there’s been any player or manager who will ever not go through a run, whether it be positive or negative, and we’ve enjoyed some really positive runs into double figures or close to the 20’s or whatever that may be.

“Sadly we’ve experienced the other side of it were it can be highly frustrating as things don’t go your way but I have to give credit to the players, staff and everybody because there’s been no panic buttons hit.

“We don’t get overly carried away with victories and if we were siting here 12, 13 15 or 18 unbeaten, we don’t get too carried away either.

“In the same stretch, there hasn’t been a whole hullabaloo of meetings or everything else that goes with it in relation to paralysis by analysis as such, where we haven’t gone too deep into things.

“We get our GPS, we get our staff packs back from Wyscout and everything else, and a big part of the last six weeks has probably been a solid as we were and where we’ve been.

“I think it’s probably been an attacking final third that we’ve probably been reckless more than anything. You know we’ve had a lot of opportunities, a lot of good balls in good areas, but we just haven’t been making the right decisions.”

The Stripes would have Jamie Glackin to thank for being the torment in chief in the opening 45 minutes as he provided the assist for Brown’s opener, before his dangerous cross led to Steven Gordon putting the ball into his own net.

However, Kearney stressed the importance of all squad members doing their jobs as Gareth Deane had to make a smart stop to deny Ben Tilney on 13 minutes.

“You need your big players to step up and Glacks is huge for us,” he added.

“The quality of the surface here it allows him that confidence to glide where he knows there’s no bobbles and he knows he can go dribbling.

“We spoke before the game about responsibility and every player doing their job.

“Gareth’s is to keep the ball out of the net and he made a great save after 10 minutes which wouldn’t have been an ideal start to the game.

“However, Glacks’ responsibility is to carry the ball and to cause damage and he does that for the first and second goals, and those are the moments in games where you can win or lose.”

A trip to The Oval is up next for the Stripes and Kearney acknowledged they will face a team full of form after their back-to-back victories against Cliftonville and Crusaders.

“We look forward to it and there’s been plenty of tough games against the Glens who are flying,” he continued.

“I watched both of their games this week and they’re in hell of a form at this moment in time.

“It’s good that we have a win below the belt, we’ll go there hopefully with a renewed confidence now and hopefully we can go on a run of our own.

Coleraine have been quiet so far in the January transfer window but Kearney argued that Adam Mullan, Aaron Jarvis, James McLaughlin and Curtis Allen were like new signings after missing large parts of the campaign to date.

“We are always trying to sign players,” Kearney concluded.

“It’s been the toughest window and the most hours I’ve spent on a phone.

“If I’m being honest, I’d say this week is just going to treble in relation to where we’re at.

“It’s got to business that’s right and we’ve said it out there that things have gone crazy in the league.

“We know where we are at in relation to budgets and everything else in relation to what we can or cannot do.

“It’s about trying to do the right business and the business that suits the club.

“The other side of it is that we have a solid 20 or 21 man squad there and you could also argue that we had three or four new signings that played today.

“You’re sometimes better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. Curtis Allen hasn’t played much this season, James McLaughlin has been injured and missed lots of the campaign, Aaron Jarvis hasn’t featured much due to the form of Stevie Lowry and Josh Carson, with Adam Mullan being the same.

“Those guys all came in with a renewed vigour, a want and a hunger to pick it up and carry on, which is like the effect of a new signing.

“It’s up to those guys to maintain that standard and make sure we kick on.”