Coleraine manager Ruaidhri Higgins praised the performance of Cameron Stewart, who was deployed in a midfield position as the Premiership leaders defeated Bangor 2-0.

Now a centre-back by trade, Stewart played as a holding midfielder as he came through the youth ranks at Linfield and Ipswich Town and started in the role for the Bannsiders on Friday evening.

The 22-year-old has made 12 league appearances for Coleraine this season, featuring across a range of positions, and been an important member of Higgins’ squad in their charge to the summit.

Coleraine continued their winning run after a blistering start as deadly duo Joel Cooper and Matthew Shevlin both scored within 15 minutes at The Showgrounds.

placeholder image — Coleraine manager Ruaidhri Higgins. (Photo by Desmond Loughery/Pacemaker Press)

With Newcastle United loanee goalkeeper Aidan Harris injured, summer signing Ryan Schofield made his Irish League debut after recovering from a shoulder issue and Higgins felt there were plenty of positives.

"Joel’s knee felt good and you could see that real sharpness in his play,” Higgins told the club’s media channel. “Aidan Harris has got an injury which is unfortunate.

"Jamie Glackin’s partner had a baby this evening so congratulations to them. We know Cameron Stewart played a lot of his football coming up through as a holding midfield player, he played there in pre-season a couple of times, so we know he’s more than capable of doing it.

"He’s a good passer of the ball, good physical presence and he had a really good game. Alex Watson came on and made his league debut so there’s a lot to be pleased with tonight and areas of improvement as well.”

Coleraine extended their record as the Premiership’s top-scorers with Cooper and Shevlin strikes bringing the team tally to 42 across 20 matches – the next highest is nearest rivals Larne on 31.

The Bannsiders have tended to save their best for the second half this term – 25 of their goals have came after the break – but Higgins was thrilled with their rapid start.

"I’m delighted with the three points first and foremost,” he added. “That was the main thing really.

"We kept a clean sheet – we gave up a couple of chances in the second half which was disappointing. Ryan made a big save to keep it at 2-0, but I think the damage was done in the first half an hour, where we were outstanding.

"We didn’t repeat that for the last half an hour, but the first was what I really want from the team. We have shown in certain games this year we’re a really outstanding team when we play at that speed and pass the ball.

"Our movement was really good and they found it hard getting to grips with it. We couldn’t maintain it and that’s where we’d like to get to, where we can maintain it for large chunks of the game.

"Last week we got our goals in the second half, this week we got them in the first half. It’s never going to be perfect for 90 minutes, that’s unrealistic, but I would have liked us to be better with the ball in the second half.”