Ruaidhri Higgins issues apology to Coleraine fans and admits recent period 'has been damaging'
Coleraine manager Ruaidhri Higgins issued an apology to the club’s supporters after his side produced “a flaky, inadequate performance” during their 3-0 Premiership defeat to Larne.
The Bannsiders lost further ground on the top-flight leaders as substitute Andy Ryan’s brace combined alongside a late Paul O’Neill strike sealed maximum points for the hosts, who moved seven clear at the summit.
Coleraine have now lost three of their last four league games – Higgins’ men were beaten by Glentoran before losing out 2-0 to rivals Ballymena United on Boxing Day.
They responded by picking up a 3-1 home triumph over defending champions Linfield, but their latest setback is a damaging one in terms of the title picture.
"We've brought 600 or 700 people here when they could have sat in the house and watched it on the iPlayer on a freezing cold night just after Christmas and New Year where people have spent a lot of money, and we served that (performance) up to them,” said Higgins on the club’s media channel. “I'm not one for cheap apologies, but I apologise to our supporters at home and the ones that travelled for what we served up tonight because it was a flakey, inadequate performance.
"The whole performance cost us, not a 10-minute period.
"We were miles off it, which is gut-wrenching given there was so much at stake. We could have put ourselves in a really strong position but we have failed, and failed miserably.
"The Christmas period has been damaging and it hasn't been good enough. We have to accept individual responsibility, collective responsibility, nobody is exempt. It was a flimsy performance."
Coleraine have now lost seven league matches this term with five of those coming across their last nine outings, including twice against Larne.
They’ve scored more goals (46) than any other top-flight team, but Higgins pointed to an area which needs immediate improvement.
"What we haven't done well enough this year is when you're not playing well, and we certainly weren't good at any point of the game, you can still pick up results,” he added. “We haven't done that well enough at all this season.
"We have had more defeats than draws which is concerning.
"Sometimes when you don't play well you can come to these places and dig out a point...I was hopeful this could be one of those nights because not at any stage did we carry any threat, we didn't land on enough first balls, second balls, and the reality is you have to do that to win football matches. The sooner we realise that, the better."