"It doesn't look brilliant at the minute": Ruaidhri Higgins fears for Ryan Schofield after Coleraine 'keeper is injured during pre-season clash at Fleetwood Town

With the game nearing its conclusion, Schofield went down injured following a collision and looked in discomfort as he came off the pitch.

The former Huddersfield Town ‘keeper joined Coleraine in the summer after a recent spell with Morecambe.

He was replaced by Max Little for the final few minutes as Coleraine lost 2-1 against their League Two opposition.

When asked for an update on Schofield’s injury, Higgins said: “It's the shoulder, collarbone sort of area, so he'll go now and get scanned.

"It doesn't look brilliant at the minute, but you can never confirm anything until you actually get the results.

"It's the biggest disappointment from today's game, to be honest. The lads go through an absolute mountain of work and that's a really, really disappointing thing.

"Listen, it's football, you pick up injuries, but there's no doubt we're going to probably need to add a goalkeeper if it's long term.”

Coleraine found themselves two goals behind at the break as Ryan Graydon and Finley Potter netted for the hosts.

However, they did pull a goal back through Will Patching’s free-kick and Higgins says his players will benefit from competing against the English side.

"It was a good workout against a good side,” he added.

"They're a really big athletic team, a lot of lads over 6'1", 6'2".

"The second goal comes from them just being more physical from a set play than us. There was zero in the game, there was absolutely nothing in it, and they've ended up being 2-0 up in the first half when, as I said, there was nothing in the game.

"But our lads showed a really good attitude, really good quality at times as well. The pitch got sticky as it progressed, but we showed really good bravery and quality and Will got a fantastic goal.

"I thought the lads that came off the bench gave us real energy and hunger and gave us that wee extra bit that we needed towards the end of the game.”

A sizeable number of Coleraine fans made the journey across the Irish Sea for the friendly and Higgins was full of appreciation for their support.

He stated: “It's unbelievable when you travel to a different country for a pre-season friendly and you bring that sort of numbers.

"I haven't seen it before, and let's be honest, this isn't really, really easy to get to. There's obviously a flight and then there's travel to get here. Hats off to them. They were brilliant.

"They sang from minute one to the last. What I would say is I think they can see a team on the pitch that they can get excited about as well and a team that they can relate to.

"Over the course of the season coming up, we just want them to make them really, really proud of their team.”