'If you could bottle that feeling up': Ruaidhri Higgins praise for 'real top-class' Coleraine star in dramatic Larne win
Coleraine manager Ruaidhri Higgins felt Matthew Shevlin produced “a real top-class centre-forward’s performance” during his side’s dramatic comeback Premiership victory over Larne.
After falling 2-0 behind through James Simpson’s brace, the table-topping Bannsiders looked set to suffer only their second defeat of the campaign.
However, Higgins’ men responded in emphatic fashion with captain Joel Cooper pulling one back before Shevlin scored for a fourth consecutive league match – a fine header moving him back to top spot in the individual goal charts with eight.
Talisman Cooper completed the comeback with nine minutes left to play to boost Coleraine’s advantage at the summit to six points – Linfield may close the deficit once again at Carrick Rangers on Saturday afternoon.
"If you could bottle that feeling up...I’m so proud of the football club," Higgins told the club’s media channel. “That’s why I always talk about our away games, getting our fans to get behind the goal we’re shooting in to, because it can have such an impact on results.
"When we went 2-0 down at the home of the champions, the easy thing would have been to throw the towel in, but we responded brilliantly.
"What I loved about it was that, if you look at our first goal, we never got away from our identity, how we want to play.
"We stayed calm, moved the ball, got it into the final third the way we want to play and Joel puts it away.
"The second goal is phenomenal…I felt Shevy put in a real top class centre-forward’s performance and at that point I felt there was only going to be one team that would go on and win it.
"I have to say, we’ve come up against a really good team, a well-oiled machine are champions for a reason.
"To come back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 is an incredible result for us.”
Coleraine have scored 14 of their 26 league goals this season in the second half of matches, including six in the final 15 minutes, securing late 3-2 wins against both Ballymena United and Larne.
Despite falling behind, Higgins retained belief in his side to get a result and feels Coleraine’s players were rewarded for hard work.
"I felt we grew into the first half,” added Higgins. “We took control and a theme of this team over the course of the last 12 months is the amount of goals we’ve scored in the second half of matches.
"We stayed true to what we do and what we are.
"At 2-0, you do fear the worst. Webby (Lewis Webb) makes a brilliant save to stop it going to three, it would have been game over.
"We showed real courage, resilience, belief, quality...they really stepped up and I feel that togetherness was on show for everyone to see.
"People talk about the quality we have in the group, and rightly so, but on a daily basis I see how hard they work, how grounded they are, and they have got their rewards tonight.”