THE CHASE IS ON

Coleraine cut the gap between them and Glentoran to two points following the weekend’s games and with five games to go Kearney is determined to keep the pressure on.

“Our only target now is to keep chasing Glentoran for fourth place,” Kearney told Times Sport following Saturday’s draw at Glenavon.

“We’ve managed to pull back a point on them today so perhaps it will turn out to be a good point for us here, but it could be two lost, we won’t know until the end of the season.

“You have to have incentives and you have to have something to play for.

“We are stuck in mid-table if you like with five games to go so the goal is to reach for fourth.

“We’ve some big games coming up now over the next month and we know we’ll have to be at our best to keep the pressure on the Glens and close that gap. We all play each other now so I’m sure there will be a lot of movement in the last few weeks.”

The Bannsiders travel to Ballinamallard United today (Tuesday) and as well as keeping the pressure on Glentoran they have unfinished business with the Mallards, who they have only taken one point off this season.

“Going into any game you look for motivation and they absolutely humiliated us at home back in January, so there’s no need for us to look any further than that.

“If we can play anywhere close to how we played in the second half today and put the ball in the back of the net then there’s no reason why we couldn’t go and do that to a side and it would be nice to do it on Tuesday given that drubbing they handed out to us.

“Someday someone is going to take a hammering off us.

“I would be more concerned if we weren’t creating chances. They were all good chances today and the amount of times we found ourselves 2v1 was fantastic.

“We just need that wee bit of luck and start finishing the chances we create.

“We created a lot of good chances in the second half at Mourneview, but also I thought some of the play we put together was fantastic.

“I know people lambast this supposed 4-5-1 we play saying it’s negative and all the rest, but today we created five or six great chances in 45 minutes of football playing a supposedly defensive formation.

“It shows that the players know how the system works and are comfortable with it and know how to create chances from it.

“I know football is a team game and we all say it, but you look at certain teams in the league and you can say they’re run by individuals. But we are very much a team and it’s very much a team ethos.

“There was a few chinks missing in the first half and we had to change certain roles and responsibilities and in the second half everyone took responsibility and we turned things around.”

Meanwhile, Coleraine’s CFC Challenge has reached another milestone figure the club has revealed.

The fund has now arrived at the £20,000 mark thanks to recent donations from the Friends of Coleraine FC (FCFC) and contributions to the match day bucket collections.

The Friends members list has seen an approximate 20% rise in numbers since the challenge was launched and the additional members have allowed FCFC to increase their contributions to Coleraine FC over and above planned targets. The FCFC Committee would like to thank new members and also existing members who have increased their contributions to the Friends.

Another factor in reaching the £20K mark has been the tremendous response of Coleraine fans who have contributed to the match day bucket collections. To date over £5,000 has been raised via this scheme. Coleraine FC thanks all supporters who have contributed via this initiative!

Challenge Fund efforts will continue as the club seek to reach the £35,000 target with the Casino Fun Night (see HERE) next on the list of fund-raising events.

The event will be held this Friday, April 5th, in the Coleraine FC Social Club and promises an evening of Las Vegas style fun and entertainment. There will be six different gaming tables available including an authentic roulette wheel, blackjack, poker table and more to try your luck at.

The emphasis is strictly fun, although there is a number of cash prizes up for grabd. The event commences at 8pm (no entry after 11.30pm) with all proceeds going towards the CFC Challenge.

There are also a few CFC Challenge 301 Draw tickets still available.