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Steven Crawford

Gareth Deane plays down heroics as he sets out targets for rest of season

Gareth Deane is hoping Coleraine's battling display against title chasing Larne can give them a shot in the arm in their pursuit of European football.

The Bannsiders dug in to pick up a deserved point against the Invermen on Saturday despite having Aaron Jarvis sent off midway through the second half.

Deane produced several key saves to keep the clean sheet intact and give his side a boost ahead of the final five league games and end of season European play-offs.

Read more: NI teen Shea Charles offers feedback on first Euro qualifying camp

"It is massive for us in terms of confidence," said the Coleraine stopper.

"Larne are sitting top of the league for a reason.

"To get a clean sheet and a good performance gives us a big confidence boost for the next few league games.

"It's on to the split now and five remaining games, but no matter who we play we will be full of confidence.

"We will be fully focused now and raring to go for what will be a big run-in.

"We dug in after the sending off, but I think that's what we're all about.

"We know the last couple of weeks haven't been good enough.

"We were really poor in the second half of the cup final, last week against Glenavon wasn't acceptable and the boys know that.

"We gave a good account of ourselves today and hopefully that's the standard set for the rest of the season.

"It looks set to be an exciting run-in, and hopefully it will be exciting for us too as we try and finish as high up the table as we can."

Deane denied produced a stunning double save at the end on Saturday to deny Thomas Maguire, but the keeper was modest about the magnitude of his stop, instead he was just happy to have played his part in the Bannsiders putting their recent blip to bed.

"I just threw myself at it to be honest," he said.

"It was one of those games where Larne had a lot of the ball.

"The last couple of weeks haven't been up to scratch, the performances haven't been good enough.

"Our plan was to keep a clean sheet and then hopefully nick a goal at the other end.

"We wanted to frustrate Larne as much as we could as they needed a win.

"So did we after the last couple of weeks, but I think they needed it more than us.

"It was a good game, a good point and a clean sheet at home."

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