David Healy delight as 'tactically very good' Linfield secure another statement win over Coleraine
Linfield boss David Healy just couldn’t wipe the smile off his face after watching his boys dismantle title pretenders Coleraine 3-0 in their Premiership showdown at Windsor Park on Saturday night.
It was undoubtedly the Blues’ best performance of the league campaign so far – the result taking them to the top of the table.
Goals from Rhys Brennan, Adam Frizzell and Kitt Nelson had the big following of Linfield fans dancing with delight at the finish.
Coleraine simply didn’t know what hit them after Brennan struck on 42 minutes, producing a clever finish to a Nelson cross.
Midfield workhorse Frizzell bagged a second on 52 minutes, shooting low into the bottom corner beyond the outstretched gloves of Lewis Webb.
Nelson then hit the goal of the game. He teased and tricked his way past Levi Ives and Aidan Wilson before waltzing past Webb and planting the ball into the empty net.
"I thought tactically we were very good - with and without the ball - which, when you play against a team of the level of Coleraine, individually and collectively, sometimes you need to be at your best,” said Healy. "We retained the ball well at certain stages and then scored some good goals, well-worked goals at important stages of the game.
"Winning the game was most important. How you do it, sometimes it doesn't matter, but I thought tonight we were good.
“Our three goals were very good. Rhys took his superbly well, he timed his run perfectly, while I thought Frizz (Frizzell), over complicated his but he found the net with a brilliant strike. Kitt’s was probably the pick of the bunch.”
Coleraine manager Ruaidhri Higgins admitted his team were second best all over the park.
"There was nothing in the game and the first goal was pathetic really from our point of view,” he said. "We start the second half so poorly and on the back foot.
“We couldn't get out and then going from a possible equalising opportunity and within 30 seconds it's in the back of our net and it's 2-0. It's extremely frustrating.
“I should have been better at half-time in the changing room tweaking things I didn't like but I'll take it on the chin.
"There are things that I certainly got wrong and it's important that I self-reflect as well and learn from it. I'm gutted, really gutted.”