'Our sole focus is on the next game' says Coleraine's Aaron Jarvis

Oran Kearney's men are set for a busy week as they also take on Linfield in the final of the BetMcLean Cup on Sunday.

Despite the final looming large, Jarvis was adamant that the Coleraine squad are simply focusing on their next game in the Danske Bank Premiership.

The men from the Ballycastle Road looked like challenging for the Gibson Cup after a 14-match unbeaten run.

However, they have lost their last two Danske Bank Premiership fixtures without scoring a goal.

It means they come into the derby battle in fifth place and 14 points behind leaders Larne.

"We are looking forward to the match as it's a derby game under the lights at The Showgrounds," the midfielder said. "Ballymena have enjoyed a couple of good results recently so they come here with a bit of confidence and up for the battle.

"They will be buoyed by reaching the Irish Cup semi-final and their players will be working hard to start that game whenever it comes around.

"We have lost our last two games and it's important we get back on the bandwagon and put things right.

"It sounds like a cliché, but the next game is the most important one and for us that's Ballymena.

"Of course, there has been talk about the final and everything else, but we are simply concentrating on tonight's game.

"We will worry about Sunday in due course."

The Bannsiders come into the contest after a 10-day break and the 25-year-old is hoping that they will be refreshed for the challenges ahead.

"We couldn't stop scoring up until a few weeks ago, so it's been frustrating from that point of view," he added. "I felt we actually played well in our last game against Linfield but we just didn't have that killer instinct in the final third.

"We had a tough couple of weeks with plenty of games and the squad being stretched, so it was nice to have a break to work on a few things at training.

"It's important that we finish our league campaign on a high, especially for the European play-offs."