We can learn from Coleraine says boss

That’s the message from the boss as his side prepare to take on the joint-top Bannsiders at Mourneview Park on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

Oran Kearney’s men have made a great start to the season and sit alongside Cliftonville at the top of the table, 11 points ahead of Glenavon.

Hamilton has put their good form down to the fighting spirit within the squad and even tips the North Coat side to remain at the top end of the table until the end of the season.

The boss wants his side, however, to take note of the spirit within the Coleraine squad as they look to put a dent in their opponents’ title hopes.

He said: “There’s a lot of players in their team that can cause us trouble and Oran (Kearney) has a great spirit down there. They fight for each other and work from the first minute until the 90th. That showed in their result against Portadown when they came back from 3-0 down to win.

“They work hard for each other, back each other up and they’ve got a lot of quality. I think they’ll be competing at the top come the end of the season but hopefully we can be the first team to beat them away from home this season.”

In order to do that, Hamilton has called for a repeat of the performance that led his side to victory over Crusaders at Mourneview Park last month. Dominating that day, they showed their capabilities to mix it with the top sides in the league and the boss knows that another such performance will be required to take anything from this weekend’s match.

“After watching Coleraine last Saturday, it’s not going to be an easy game,” he said.

“They’ve only been beaten once this season and are at the top of the table for a reason. If we perform in the way we did for one half against Linfield and for 90 minutes against Crusaders, we can get a result.

“We’ve put in a lot of good performances at home and not always got the results we’ve deserved. Hopefully next week we can put in another display like that and get a result. We always seem to raise our game for the bigger teams and I’m confident that if we play to our capabilities, we can win the game.

“We have enough in the team that if we all perform, we’ll be a match for anyone.”