Ruaidhri Higgins: Bannsiders are 'massive underdogs' but are more than capable of causing an upset against Helsinki
Ruaidhri Higgins has conceded his Coleraine side will be “massive underdogs” for their Conference League assignment against HJK Helsinki – but knows they have players who are capable of hurting their Finnish opponents.
The Bannsiders return to the European scene for the first time in five years as they travel to the Finnish capital on Thursday, before hosting the second leg at Larne’s home ground at Inver Park a week later.
Helsinki have been involved in the group/league phase of the competition on three separate occasions – lastly in 2024/25 – so Higgins is fully aware of the task that lies ahead for his troops.
He said: “We will have a really really difficult assignment in the sense that we're playing a powerhouse in Finnish football, a big club who are in the middle of their season, so we'll certainly have to get our very best to progress.
"They will be strong favourites but I certainly have belief that we can cause an upset, strong belief that we can cause an upset.
"We have a smashing group of players and we have brilliant staff who are working tirelessly.
"The one advantage we have over them is that we have spent the last three weeks purely focussing on them and analysing them, the big advantage they have over us is that they're going to be razor sharp in terms of match fitness but we have had fantastic preparation time.
"Listen in an ideal world we would like to have a number of games under our belt as well but we know what we're going into, they're going to be favourites but I wouldn't write us off, that's for sure.”
The contest could provide a debut for Conor McMenamin after the attacker sealed a high-profile move to The Showgrounds this summer.
The Northern Ireland international joined Jay Henderson, Conrad Hunt (loan), Aidan Wilson and Ben Doherty in agreeing a switch with the Irish Cup holders.
“It was really refreshing when I had a couple of chats with Conor and I loved the conversation because he asked the right questions,” Higgins added.
"There was no question about his hunger after the conversations and he's a good lad, he settled well into the group and we're delighted he’s here with us.
"We know the pedigree he has, we know he played at St Mirren and they played a back three, stroke back five and it kind of took away from getting him on the last line and he didn't really get to play his natural position during his time there.
“It’s a move we're excited about and I know he's excited about coming here.
"Listen for me, he can play anywhere across the top line, I don't see any reason why he couldn't, number nines are different nowadays, I don't see any reason why he couldn’t play that role.
"We've played (Joel) Cooper as a nine, obviously (Matthew) Shevlin's a natural out and out nine, there's no reason why McManaman can't play in a two, he can play on either side, so he gives us that versatility as well and that quality and you can't have enough match winners and he certainly is one of those.”