“We were dominant after the break” – Skipper

COLERAINE skipper Stephen O’Donnell believes last night’s draw against Glenavon was a tale of two halves…

The Bannsiders would be held to a goalless draw despite a dominant second-half performance that saw Oran Kearney’s men miss a penalty, have a shot cleared off the line and other numerous sights at goal.

However, O’Donnell cited the opening 45 minutes – which the visitors shaded and hit the upright twice – as “not good enough” as the two sides drew for a fourth successive time.

“I think the first-half wasn’t good enough from us,” O’Donnell said.

“Oran made that clear at half-time, we changed a few things and I thought we were really good after the break.

“On a different day, we would have probably would have scored two or three goals, but with the penalty and the other missed chances, it was one of those days where the ball wouldn’t go in for us.

“In a nutshell, first-half performance not good enough, the second-half performance right on the money.

“If we were leaving here not creating any chances, been a bit stale and not playing well then we would be really disappointed, but I think the fact we were able to create that many chances and get Conor McKendry into good positions is a positive.

“We were able to put good balls into the box but it’s unfortunate we couldn’t find the back of the net.”

The Stripes have registered five clean sheets from their last six Danske Bank Premiership outings and O’Donnell hailed the summer acquisition of Rodney Brown who has seamlessly settled into the back four.

“It has been good and Rodney is easy to play with as he’s big, he’s strong, wins his headers and is there to cover,” he continued.

“He’s done well since he’s come in but I think in terms of the clean sheets, it’s the full back four and Deansy, but the boys in front have been excellent as well.

“When the boys uptop are on the money and it sticks up there, it makes our job easier and we have done well recently keeping the ball out of our net.

“Hopefully we can just kick on now in the next few games.”

A bumper crowd was in attendance on the Ballycastle Road and the captain was full of praise for all the hard work behind the scenes to make the ground improvements happen.

“When the fans do come here and pack it out – it really does make a difference,” he concluded.

“In the second-half, you could feel them dragging the ball to try and get us over the line but unfortunately we couldn’t do it.

“The 4G pitch itself is a real testament to everyone who has been working hard behind the scenes over the last couple of years.

“It is everyone from the volunteers and the stewards to the Board and staff, it’s a real testament as to how well we have done.”