Early salvo helps Coleraine beat Crues in emphatic fashion

Irish Premiership

Coleraine 4 – 1 Crusaders FT

Coleraine returned to the top of the table with a resounding 4-1 victory over Crusaders at the Showgrounds in Saturday’s late kick-off.

The Bannsiders raced out of the traps, opening the scoring through Senan Devine inside the opening minute.

It was 2-0 four minutes later as Jay Henderson netted his second of the campaign and 3-0 after eight minutes after Matthew Shevlin headed home a Ben Doherty cross.

Senan Devine scored his second of the game seven minutes into the second period after Crusaders failed to deal with a Dylan Boyle delivery.

Crusaders struck late for a consolation goal through 15-year-old substitute Michael Mulholland but it was ultimately a comfortable afternoon for Ruaidhri Higgins’s side.

There was less than a minute on the clock when Coleraine opened the scoring through teenage midfielder Senan Devine.

Shevlin did well initially to head Rob Slevin’s cross into the path of Ben Wylie who advanced into the penalty area before squaring for Devine to tap home from six yards for his second goal of the season.

And the home side were 2-0 up inside five minutes thanks to a fine individual effort from Scottish winger Henderson.

The former Ross County man seized on a stray pass in the middle of the field before striding forward and firing a low left foot shot past the despairing dive of Crusaders keeper Shea Callister.

It got even better for the hosts after eight minutes as Shevlin made it three for the season for the in-form striker.

Slevin again began the move, freeing Ben Doherty on the left wing and when his cross reached the six yard box there was Shevlin to expertly guide his header out of the reach of Callister.

It could have been worse for the visitors but for a number of fine saves from the Crusaders keeper to deny Aidan Wilson and Will Patching before half-time in a dominant 45 minutes from the hosts.

However, he was powerless to prevent Coleraine extending their lead seven minutes after the restart as Devine pounced on a loose ball inside the penalty area to drill a low left foot shot into the bottom corner of the net for his second of the game.

Crusaders kept at their task and were rewarded for their efforts in the closing moments when substitute Mulholland got on the end of a perfectly weighted Owen Wardell cross to divert the ball past Lewis Webb.

So, Coleraine replace Dungannon Swifts at the head of affairs while it’s a first defeat in four for Declan Caddell’s side.

What the managers said

Coleraine head coach Ruaidhri Higgins: “We spoke about it beforehand that we wanted a really fast start.

“We set the standard last week against Portadown in terms of how you start games and we want to maintain that.

“I think that when we get in front it can be very difficult to beat us and I felt how we started the game today was exactly how we wanted to.

“You never envisage being 3-0 up after eight minutes. I don’t think it’s ever happened to me – ever before – but the players have been an absolute credit and they deserve all the credit in the world.

“Crusaders dropped deeper and defended the spaces in the second half but the game was dead at 4-0 and we were able to get players on the pitch.

“It’s been a really good start for us, and I couldn’t be prouder of the players.”

Crusaders head coach Declan Caddell: “Conceding in the first minute – nightmare. Conceding three in the first seven minutes – even worse.

“We came out sleeping, they didn’t. The early goals breeds confidence. Theirs lifted and ours disintegrated.

“I can’t fault the work rate, I can’t fault the effort of the players: they left everything on the pitch, but you can’t come to places like this and give away three goals in seven minutes and expect to get anything out of it.

“I’m not going to be hard on the boys, they’ve been outstanding since the start of the season, and we’re not going to be the only team that comes up here and gets beaten by four this season.”

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