Injury concerns for Bannsiders but Ruaidhri Higgins has full faith in squad depth at his disposal
Ruaidhri Higgins says he is sweating on the fitness of several of his players ahead of Saturday’s showdown at Crusaders.
His Coleraine team come into the contest after relinquishing their lead at the summit of the Premiership on Tuesday night after a 2-1 loss at home to Larne.
That defeat also had consequences on his squad as Rowan McDonald, Joel Cooper and Matthew Shevlin all picked up injuries, with Higgins unsure when they will be available again.
The Coleraine squad has already lost Connor Murray and Jamie McGonigle at the top end of the pitch but Higgins knows he has enough quality within his ranks to return to winning ways.
He revealed: “We have some injury concerns...I suppose when you've no game for two weeks and then you go Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, it can happen.
"I've seen it before and I knew it might be an issue. Matthew Shevlin has a shoulder injury, so we don't know the time frame on that. Rowan McDonald, who was our best player in the first half the other night, done his hamstring just before half-time. Again, not sure on the time frame on that.
"Joel (Cooper) is obviously struggling and one or two others are very much touch and go as well. Listen, we'll have a good team on the pitch, no doubt. There's definitely a few out, but there's a few more touch and go.
“Listen, there's no getting away from it. it's been difficult. A week is an awful long time in football, as we know, and it can change very quickly again in our favour – and that's what we plan to do.
"Obviously we've addressed certain things. What you've got to do, you've got to face it and move on as quickly as possible as well, because we've got some really important games coming up, starting with Crusaders on Saturday.”
Coleraine were 4-0 victors in their last outing at Seaview back in September as Cooper bagged a brace, alongside efforts from Shevlin and Declan McManus.
But Higgins knows the Crues are a different animal since then as they have picked up results in recent weeks – albeit going down to a narrow 1-0 loss at Linfield on Tuesday.
"They've been in really good form and they were only narrowly beaten on Tuesday night,” he added.
“They had quite a few chances and there was nothing in the game. They've really good attacking players, who are dynamic...but it's a game we're looking forward to.
"I think our first half performance down there the last time was as good as we've been all season, and we would like a repeat of that if possible.
“We have a good group of players here and we need to go to Crusaders and try and put in a really good performance.
"We've had a tough four days, things were going smoothly enough until that point, but in every season there's a bit of adversity, there's setbacks.
“Everyone wants to win every game, I get that. Everyone wants success straight away and there's a serious lack of patience in the game and we all understand that.”