"I'm mad about him": Ruaidhri Higgins full of praise for Coleraine striker who keeps climbing the club's history books

The striker netted the 123rd goal of his Coleraine career to date in last Saturday’s victory against Crusaders as Higgins’ men triumphed 4-1 at The Showgrounds.

The goal moved him into joint-fifth position in the top goalscorer history books at the club, alongside Raymond McCoy, with Shevlin managing to achieve the feat in just 229 games for the Bannsiders.

Shevlin will have eyes on breaking into the top three as Tony Curley (134) and Ken Halliday (141) are currently ahead of him – but he knows he will be doing well to get even higher as Fay Coyle (241) and legendary Dessie Dickson (452) occupy the top two.

Whilst being known for his exploits in terms of finding the net, Higgins believes ex-Ballymena United and Linfield ace Shevlin provides so much more for his team other than just goals.

He explained: “I'm mad about Shevy...I’ve so much time for him.

"Even his honesty, the one down at Portadown, at the corner flag, where it looks like it's going out for a goal kick, he knicks it in front of the defender, kicks it off him, and wins a corner.

“He does so much unselfish running, he's just a brilliant person as well, and I love having him here.

“It's like Vinnie Arkins territory, isn't it? When you look at his record at Portadown, it’s a similar sort of goal ratio.

"The thing about it is...his humility, he's just a gem, I’m really mad about him as a fella as well, and hopefully there's many more goals to come.”

Coleraine, who are widely tipped by many to end their long wait for Gibson Cup success this season, lead the Premiership table at this early stage.

The squad was boosted in the summer by the arrivals of the likes of Ben Doherty, Rob Slevin and Jay Henderson – to name a few – and Higgins says he is fortunate to work with such a good panel of players and staff.

​"I'm only a young manager at 41-years-old, believe it or not, and I've only been at this about five years, so I've been very, very fortunate, to manage a lot of good players,” the former Derry City chief remarked.

"I just think this group, there's something about them, there's an eagerness, they want to learn, they want to get better, they're prepared to do whatever it takes to get better.

"I love working with them, coming in every day with the staff, you'll get people coming up to you after a really good win, saying about how good the team was and stuff like that.

"I'm the one that stands out in the technical area but we've fantastic football staff here.

"I'm very, very lucky that they're all prepared to give their opinions...Conor (Loughrey), Kevin (Deery), Michael (Dougherty), Gerard (Boyle), Luke (McKendry), that's the immediate football staff that I have.

“We challenge each other all the time, and we all bring different skill sets, which is really important, and we're still learning all the time, and learning from each other as we go along.

"I think that's really important, that we challenge each other and get better, because none of us know it all, far from it, and we need to keep developing and keep getting better, and keep challenging each other on a daily basis as well.”