'We have to be patient' - Coleraine chief Dean Shiels confident young players will learn from mistakes after Crusaders defeat
Dean Shiels has called for patience as his young Coleraine side fight for consistency and is looking at the bigger picture after their 2-1 Premiership defeat to Crusaders.
First half goals from Jordan Stewart and Kieran Offord handed the Crues a half-time advantage before the league’s joint-top goalscorer Matthew Shevlin pulled one back in the 76th minute – an eighth goal in his last five matches for the Bannsiders marksman.
However, Kyle McClelland was shown a second yellow card moments later and Declan Caddell’s side held on to secure three points and leapfrog Sunday’s opponents into seventh.
“We’re disappointed, especially with the first half,” Shiels told the club’s media channel. "I felt we kept knocking on the door and hit the bar twice in the first half.
"The second goal is massively disappointing – we have to take more responsibility there, be more assertive and deal with it better.
"We knew at half-time if we got a goal we’d have a good chance of getting something from the game and we kept believing, kept going to the end. Going down to 10-men isn’t ideal but we still created numerous chances and they cleared one off the line.
"I think we’re really unfortunate to not get anything from the game. The disappointing thing is they didn’t have to work for their goals and that’s frustrating for us. We were in good form coming into this game but it’s another setback.”
Coleraine have produced strong form at the Showgrounds this season – only Dungannon Swifts (19) and Cliftonville (17) have collected more home points so far than their 16 – and this marked a first defeat in front of home support since a 3-0 loss to league leaders Linfield in August.
With Shiels’ appointment and the transition to full-time football, Coleraine targeted younger players during the summer transfer window with four aged 22 or under starting this weekend while Dean Jarvis was the sole star over 30.
Former Rangers ace Shiels is aware that the process is going to take time and is willing to display patience as they search for the right formula after a third consecutive 2-1 defeat to Crusaders.
"I thought if the game had went on another two or three minutes that a goal was coming – we kept creating and creating,” he added. “It just wasn’t to be in the end.
"I’ve worked with young players a lot in the past and our two centre-backs are 22 and 21, our goalkeeper is 22 and what you get with that is inconsistency because the clean sheet and how we defended at Loughgall was superb, but we have to be patient with young players.
"The profile of player we signed in the summer was for the future, to develop players and we have to be patient. We’re in a long-term project here where those players will hopefully improve and learn from those mistakes.”