Dean Shiels says Coleraine cannot afford to dwell on "ifs, buts and maybes" as they look to bounce back from last week's late disappointment at Glenavon. For the second time this season the Bannsiders conceded in stoppage time to let three points slip through their grasp with today's opponents, Portadown, the first to peg them back.
Those valuable four points which were lost would have Coleraine sitting in third place in the table, but Shiels insists they have to learn from their mistakes and not dwell on what might have been.
"We've conceded in the last 10 seconds against Portadown and Glenavon, that's four points lost from winning positions," said the Bannsiders boss. "Four points would put us third but it's all ifs, buts and maybes.
READ NEXT: Joe Gormley makes big admission on his Cliftonville future as he targets major milestone
READ NEXT: NI footballer leaves teammates in stitches with 'new hair'
"The fact is we didn't see out those games which comes down to game management. Those moments we can handle them better. I think we learned a lot from the Portadown game initially and we got a reaction. We looked at the Glenavon game, we did our analysis, we worked on certain aspects on the pitch in regards to improving certain areas. There was a massive sense of trauma, it felt like we lost the game.
"On reflection after a couple of days you realise that we gained a point on Ballymena, we gained a point on Portadown and we're still right in amongst it. I think it would be wrong for us to ignore how good we were and what we were good at and how we hurt Glenavon. We'll look to try and bring all that together with an improved performance overall on Saturday."
The Ports have been one of the surprise packages this season and Shiels is well aware of the threat they pose. "Portadown are getting lots of points away from home so we know it's going to be difficult," he said.
"They beat Ballymena 3-0 away and they beat Glentoran 2-0 away also. They're well organised, they're very well together and have a good defensive structure.
"They've got players like Ryan Mayse who's probably one of the best players in the league this season. He's been scoring massively important goals so they've got threats at that end. They're very dangerous from set plays so we're gonna have to be at our best or we'll get very little on Saturday, the players are well aware of that.
"We want to get as much momentum as we can ahead of the busy festive period. Going into Boxing Day we want to be in good form, we know how much that fixture means. We've got Linfield and Loughgall either side of that before the Irish Cup tie against Armagh so we want to get some momentum going into these games."
Join Belfast Live’s new Irish League WhatsApp group. Click this link to receive the latest Irish League headlines and breaking news direct to your phone. We also treat our members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our group, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice
English (United States) ·