Glentoran kicked off an away three-game week in perfect fashion with a dominant display at Coleraine on Friday where they deservedly picked up all three points.
Matthew Shevlin's late goal for the Bannsiders was merely a consolation as the Glens already had the points in the bag thanks to goals from Jordan Jenkins and Kodi Lyons-Foster.
The win briefly closed the gap on league leaders Linfield before their win over Loughgall on Saturday, but boss Declan Devine insisted their attention is only on the next game with trips to Ballymena United and Cliftonville coming up this week.
"We have absolutely no doubt it's going to be a tough week for us away to Ballymena and away to Cliftonville," he said.
"It will be three away games in a week...but we are resilient, we have great strength in depth and we will have to make changes as the week goes by.
"I have full trust in everybody, there's still a few important players to come back, Josh Kelly and James Singleton are out for the season - but we have Paddy McClean and Aaron Wightman who are good players to come back into the mix which will only strengthen us in the coming weeks.
"The application and willingness to go that extra yard on Friday night was really important. We played some good football at times but in this league you have to dig in and work hard and this group of players deserve credit because they did that.
"We were delighted we have picked the three points up, it meant we could enjoy our weekends before we get ready for another game down this neck of the woods at Ballymena on Tuesday, which will again be every bit as difficult.
"This is another one chalked off and I'm delighted for the players because they are working hard behind-the-scenes and giving everything for the shirt.
"You see what it means to the fans and the players and the reaction together...we have to keep building on that.
"We just have to concentrate on ourselves. There will be a lot of twists and turns, there's still a split to come, so all we have to do is analyse and enjoy the win over Coleraine...but prepare and recover for a tough game on Tuesday night.
"We respect everybody we play and I think that's been evident this year. We give everyone the utmost respect we play and we prepare in the same manner for every game.
"We know Ballymena have a lot of top, top quality players and we watched the game last week against Linfield and saw how unlucky they were not to hold out at the end."
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) ·