Jamie McGonigle hopes he is now hitting his prime years after racking up 200 appearances for the Bannsiders

The men from the north coast have won three, drawn four and lost one out of their opening eight Premiership contests.

Linfield will post the next challenge at The Showgrounds this afternoon and McGonigle says there has been steady improvement from Dean Shiels' side after a sea of changes both on and off the pitch in the summer.

"I definitely do see improvements from the start of pre-season," the ex-Crusaders and Derry City ace said.

"There's a lot of new players in the squad and it takes time. We're all buying into what Dean wants to do and we're doing it.

"Obviously there's going to be mistakes along the way, it's just about having that bit of patience and hopefully it all comes to fruition in the end.

"Every time Linfield comes here it's always a tough game. It's the same every year. It doesn't have to be pretty as long as you're putting the points on the board.

"That's probably what they're thinking on their side but it's up to us to put our stamp on it from our side and hopefully get one over on them."

McGonigle celebrated making his 200th appearance last weekend against Loughgall by netting his first goal of the campaign from the spot as the Bannsiders ran out 2-0 victors.

The striker commented on the landmark and how he feels he is reaching the prime years of his career at the age of 28.

"It sort of crept up on me until Marshall Gillespie pointed out that it was coming up. It has flown in and come along a lot quicker that I thought.

"I've got plenty more in the tank and hopefully plenty more appearances for Coleraine. Hopefully I can at least double that.

"I've had a lot of senior appearances which is probably surprising for my age and as I say hopefully I can get many more.

"I probably should be hitting my prime. These are the years everyone probably defines as your peak years when you're this side of 30. I think I've learnt the game a lot better now and I'm wiser to a lot of things. This should be my prime years now."

McGonigle was taken off at half-time last weekend but confirmed that it was “precautionary” measure rather than anything serious.

That marks a piece of good news for the Bannsiders as boss Shiels confirmed that he will be without Lyndon Kane, Graham Kelly and Aidan Tejada for the visit of the league leaders.

McGonigle commented: "It was a bit of a precautionary thing as the physio said we were better calling it then before it got any worse. Thankfully calling it that early proved to be the right decision as I've been able to train this week and I'm fit and available for selection.

"We've a lot of attacking options here. You can add in Conor Murray as well and Jamie Glackin, who is more of a midfielder but can play in there too.

"There are lots of different options for Dean but it's probably a good headache for him to have.”