Ruaidhri Higgins slams 'unacceptable' goals as Coleraine's unbeaten run ended
Coleraine manager Ruaidhri Higgins felt his side conceded “unacceptable” goals as their unbeaten Premiership run came to an end following a 2-1 defeat against leaders Glentoran – and insists they have to show more resilience under pressure.
The Bannsiders entered Friday’s fixture on the back of four consecutive league wins and went ahead after only eight minutes through former Glens star Kodi Lyons-Foster.
However, a Jordan Stewart second half brace rocked the hosts and ensured Glentoran extended their own unbeaten run to eight matches at the start of this season.
Coleraine have received significant praise over recent weeks for their level of performance, scoring four goals in each of their last two matches ahead of Friday’s anticipated showdown while also collecting four clean sheets this term.
"Hurting is the initial reaction, really hurting,” Higgins told the club’s media channel. “It's a difficult one to take.
"First half, we played a lot of it in the manner we wanted to play, got ourselves in front with a brilliant set-play and had another couple of opportunities to get further in front.
"The first 20-25 minutes of the second half really hurt us. We needed to show more resilience in that period and if you look at both goals, unacceptable from ourselves.
"The first goal we don't defend the wide ball into our box and then we stop the cross coming back and don't pick up in the box, it's a terrible goal.
"The second is just as bad, if not worse, and it's really poor from our end. We have to be more resilient in those moments when we come under pressure because we aren't always going to have it our own way.
"We've had lots of pats on the back in recent weeks and fair enough, but it isn't always going to be like that and in those moments where we get put under real, real pressure, we have to stand up.
"They took the game away from us in that period and punished us.
"We still had four brilliant chances in the second half, Shevy, McManus, Kodi, Zane gets one cleared off the line...we had a lot of opportunities.
"We weren't resilient or tough enough from a defensive point of view and when you give teams like Glentoran momentum, they punished us because they've top players."