Former Coleraine star on challenges provided by 'deep squad who could play on most teams'

Ruaidhri Higgins’ side have only endured two defeats in their 15 league matches this term with both coming against the table-topping Blues, who are also responsible for six of the 16 goals conceded by Coleraine.

Linfield have opened up a narrow one-point advantage at the summit, putting together a 14-game unbeaten run which includes wins against all three of their full-time rivals.

Many – including several Premiership managers – would consider Coleraine’s squad to be the best in Northern Ireland’s top-flight with the likes of Joel Cooper, Matthew Shevlin, Will Patching and Ben Doherty all in fine form.

While squad options could be viewed as a positive headache for Higgins as he plots Coleraine’s path to Gibson Cup glory, Beverland, who won a league title with Crusaders, places a great importance on consistency of selection.

"I don't think there's a settled 11,” Beverland told the News Letter. “Sometimes that comes when you have a luxury of top players too.

"With a deep squad of players who could arguably play on most teams, it does unsettle things a bit...do players know from one week to the next, are they going to be chopped out of the team and maybe somebody else comes in? I don’t know.

“Ruaidhri might say that's not his fault because certain players aren't stringing together four, five, six really good games and cementing a place in the team.

"I think you probably look at players like Cooper, Patching, Shevlin, Ben Doherty as guaranteed starters, outside of that, you could see a different player in the other seven positions from one week to the next.”

Coleraine have generally responded in fine fashion to league losses during Higgins’ tenure and will be looking for a similar outcome when they host basement club Portadown on Friday night.

While Coleraine still have 23 league matches left to play, Beverland has called on the Bannsiders to take full advantage of inconsistency shown by some of their rivals.

Reigning champions Larne have lost three of their last six games while Glentoran have drawn three of their last four, including picking up a point at The Showgrounds in Duncan Ferguson’s first match.

"I still think there's a sense of calm, but there's also a sense of urgency too,” added Beverland. “After they lose, they tend to go on a good run, so I don’t think it’s a time to panic.

"But I think there is a sense of urgency and we can't just rest here.

"You can’t use the excuse of, ‘it's only November and nothing's won’ – there's markers put down as much as there's nothing won in earlier stages of the season.

"Those psychological aspects begin to creep in, you know, ‘do Linfield have our number? That's twice now’.

"Those mindsets aren't healthy and can certainly influence them going into the next time they play each other as well.

"I'd be surprised if they don't bounce back with a strong performance and put a statement out there as well (against Portadown).”