Oran Kearney is hoping for an immediate reaction from Coleraine

Before last Saturday’s game at Warrenpoint Town you had to go back to November 18th, 2017 for the last time Oran Kearney tasted defeat whilst in charge of Coleraine.
Coleraine boss Oran Kearney wants a reaction from his sideColeraine boss Oran Kearney wants a reaction from his side
Coleraine boss Oran Kearney wants a reaction from his side

To be fair there wouldn’t have been too many brave pundits who would have predicted the Bannsiders 52-game unbeaten run under Kearney would have come to an end at Milltown.

But end it did. Rather than being upset at the run coming to an end, Kearney was disappointed that his side didn’t perform on the day, which ultimately led to them losing the game.

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“We’ve never beaten a drum in there and we’ve never discussed about making it, I don’t know how many games it is,” said the Bannsiders boss.

“That’s not been the thing.

“Am I disappointed now because the run has ended? No, I’m disappointed because we’ve dropped three points that should have been within our grasp to go and take.

“Where these three points could take us in a matter of months’ time, I don’t know and that’s the overriding emotion at this time.

“It’s never been about preserving a run, it’s never been about setting whatever records are out there.

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“It’s been about trying to get three points on the board every time.

“For as well as we’ve done in recent weeks and picked up threes and threes and threes, today we’ve handed back one of those sets of three, which is disappointing.

“Some of the three points we’ve picked up in recent months, you would probably say are higher ranking three points if you want to put it that way in terms of beating Linfield, Crusaders and all the rest.

“But, we’ve said it many times, three points is three points, no matter who you’re playing.

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“That’s the overriding thing, we have been picking up those three points, we have had that ruthlessness and maybe over the last few weeks, we’ve carried the odd player here and there, but last week we just had too many passengers.

“When too many of your big players don’t turn up, I don’t care who you play, I’m in football long enough now to know it’s going to be a tough game.

“This sickener will go down along with all the other sickeners in my time in football in different stages of my career. But that’s what football does to you.”

Many will be expecting the Bannsiders to bounce back when they take on Carrick Rangers at The Showgrounds today.

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But Kearney knows his side will have to up their level of performance or risk another defeat.

“I went and watched Carrick against Crusaders last week and they gave the Crues their fill of it,” he said.

“If we’re in and around the same level of performance we produced at Warrenpoint, Carrick will chin us, make no bones about it.

“When the dust settles on this, we’ve lost three points and only three points at this moment in time.

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“We’ve put ourselves in a position where we’re part of a race that we want to remain a part of.

“But we’ve dropped three points against Warrenpoint and the important thing is to get back on the horse and don’t trip over our lips and we go again.”

Carrick also suffered a sickener of their own last Friday night when two injury time goals from Crusaders condemned them to defeat.

“That was a difficult defeat to take,” said boss Niall Currie.

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“I thought we deserved at least one point, but we’ve got to learn how to see games through. We have got to manage games better.

“That’s about the fourth game this season that we should have had at least one point from.

“We are where we are, to be honest, we’ve picked up more points than expected at this stage of the season.

“If I can get that level of performance and commitment for the rest of the campaign, I’ll not be complaining.”