Oran: I knewwe’d improve

The Bannsiders manager was thrilled after watching his side floor derby rivals with two quickfire goals in 11 minutes last Saturday.

Neil McCafferty and Ruairi Harkin were on target, much to the delight of Kearney and Coleraine’s travelling support.

Seven wins in nine matches have moved Coleraine into sixth but Kearney insists that very little has changed since the dark days of early season.

He remarked: “People say it has turned - would I say training has changed from the start of the season? No.

“Would I say the buzz around the changing room has changed? Not really.

“I back myself in who I bring to the club, more in terms of personality than even playing ability and we have a cracking changing room.

“So many of those guys absolutely want a football career and are so enthusiastic to do that.

“At the start of the season it wasn’t that they were doing anything wrong but it takes a wee bit of time to learn about the league and how to play the league.

“Steven Douglas is older than the combined ages of the full-backs!”

“We have four players out of Saturday’s line-up who have maybe 60 starts between them in this league and the majority of players they’re playing against have made 100 or 150 and that’s the bit that really pleases me more than anything”

But the Coleraine boss was more effusive about his side’s reversal of fortunes last week.

He gushed: “There is a positivity in the dressing room that pervades everything and its the togetherness the players are displaying that is helping generate solid contributions from every single one of them,

“The big word for us over the last few weeks has been momentum.

“We are looking after the performances and the work and when we do that we know we will create chances to win games.”