Ruaidhri Higgins dismisses Linfield 'injury crisis' claims with Coleraine not 'shouting and screaming the way other clubs do'

The Bannsiders suffered a major blow last week when it was confirmed defender Kodi Lyons-Foster is set for a period on the sidelines – an injury which forced Higgins into the market with former Derry City captain Mark Connolly signing a pre-contract before becoming available next month.

Ahead of Friday’s clash against Bangor, Higgins is also without the likes of Rowan McDonald, Conor Murray, Oliver Devlin and is managing Joel Cooper’s knee issue.

The current situation at The Showgrounds has left Higgins admitting that with “25-30% of our squad possibly unavailable at the minute”, he can’t plan to let players leave ahead of the January transfer window – but does ultimately expect some movement in both directions.

Reigning champions Linfield have been impacted significantly by injuries this season with midfield maestro Chris Shields set to miss the rest of the campaign while star striker Kieran Offord is currently on crutches.

"I would imagine there will be a wee bit of movement in both ways,” said Higgins. “It's natural.

"There's going to be players who are unhappy...nobody is knocking my door yet but I know how the game works.

"They're a brilliant group of players and every individual has different circumstances and needs...you have to be respectful of that but also protecting the club as well.

"We'll see. Naturally if there's a wee bit of movement in then there'll be some out as well.

"At this minute in time, you read an awful lot about this injury crisis which Linfield have - I wouldn't have it as a crisis, they have a couple of players out.

"We have a serious amount of players on the treatment table at the minute but we probably don't shout and scream the way other clubs do.

"We're delighted with our squad and what we have available. My point is we can't let anybody out at the minute because there's a few on the treatment table.

"The players see the direction the club is going in, hopefully they're all enjoying it and want to be part of it, but it's natural that January can be a tricky month. Clubs will look at our players to see who hasn't been playing, who is out of the team and say 'let's have a go for them'.

"It can unsettle players so we're under no illusions that there'll be interest in some of our players come late-December or early-January."