Manner of defeat 'unacceptable' blasts Bannsiders boss Higgins

Coleraine head coach Ruaidhri Higgins has warned his players that 'the honeymoon period's over' after they fell to a second defeat in three days in midweek.

The Bannsiders followed up Saturday's 1-0 loss at Cliftonville with an underwhelming 2-1 defeat at home to Larne on Tuesday night.

The defeat means the Bannsiders are overtaken at the top of the table by the Inver Park men, with a number of other clubs hot on Coleraine's heels.

It all adds up to a pretty dispiriting couple of days for management and players who, up until the weekend, had lost just twice in three months.

Two goals at the end of the first half had Gary Haveron's side firmly in control and, although Matthew Shevlin pulled a goal back in added time, it was too little too late for the hosts.

They must now regroup quickly for a trip to Crusaders on Saturday.

"You can take getting beat but the manner of the defeat was unacceptable really," said Higgins immediately after the game.

"There's collective responsibility there – we're all responsible for it. We weren't good in the first half but we've conceded in the 43^rd minute and a minute into injury time at the end of the first half.

"When you're not playing well just get in at half-time 0-0, defend your box, stop crosses, get in and regroup, but we've done real damage to ourselves.

"Even though we weren't good for the whole half we've done real damage to ourselves on the stroke of half-time, then it's a massive uphill battle.

"I think they done a number on us: they came, sat in and countered on us. I think we were just weak in certain periods of the game which is extremely disappointing.

"It's an unacceptable performance and we're all culpable, we have to accept it. It's the first time we've been beat back to back.

"Now you've got two options really – you stand up and stick your chest out, show what you're about as an individual or you go under - I hope it's the first one.

"We'll be off Wednesday, back in on Thursday and we need to get ready to go to Crusaders. It's gonna be an extremely tough game and we need to find a way to win the game, it's as simple as that."

"Like I said in there – the honeymoon period's over. We have to step up, all of us. We'll see in the coming days what we're made of really."