Calm heads required for derby day says Lyons-Foster

Coleraine defender Kodi Lyons-Foster believes calm heads can win the day when the Bannsiders travel to Ballymena United for a first derby meeting of the season this Saturday.

Lyons-Foster, of course, enjoyed the thrills and spills of facing Linfield during his time at Glentoran, and is looking to draw on that experience this weekend.

"I think you try and take the same approach into every game, but there's obviously that extra bit of spice with it being a derby," he conceded.

"It's about controlling and managing your emotions and using those emotions to push you on, rather than letting them getting the better of you.

"I think, with the style we play, we need to have calm heads but we need to be brave, too.

"We need to be prepared for that derby atmosphere and ferocity in the fixture.

"I've spoken to Lyndon (Kane) about what sort of atmosphere it's gonna be.

"I'm well aware of what it means to our supporters so we'll give everything we can to get the three points.

"The fans have been brilliant so far, from the very first game of the season against Larne up to now, so we ask them again to come out and support us in their numbers on Saturday, which I'm sure they will.

"They definitely make a difference for us," he added.

Coleraine suffered a setback with defeat at Bangor last Saturday, but responded positively on Tuesday with a crushing defeat of Dollingstown in the Bet McLean Cup.

Lyons-Foster accepted that the manner of the two goals conceded at Clandeboye Park was poor and stated that the team was looking to build on the midweek momentum.

"I wouldn't say the Bangor defeat was a warning shot, per se, but I think it was a humble reminder that if we do take our foot off the gas we'll get punished," he admitted.

"We didn't go into the game with the mindset that we'll just turn up here and we'll beat them but we maybe started the game a bit slow and we went 2-0 down early doors.

"After we went 2-0 down we really started to play and push them but, look, it's a competitive league no matter where you're going. There's no easy games in this league

"We've come away from what we've been doing from a defensive perspective, which is keeping clean sheets and keeping the back door shut, but it's a long season and we're gonna make mistakes, myself included, and it's part and parcel of the game.

"We have looked at that game and analysed it and we got a positive reaction on Tuesday.

"Let's a positive reaction now on Saturday."