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Steven Crawford

Oran Kearney makes a case for the defence as they collect another clean sheet

Coleraine's resurgence in recent weeks has been built largely on their ability to keep clean sheets.

Saturday's 2-0 win over Dungannon Swifts was the Bannsiders' seventh shut out in their last eight games.

An impressive statistic which was not lost on boss Oran Kearney, who had special praise for his goalkeeper Gareth Deane.

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“It’s a great statistic," he said.

"It’s another clean sheet and we have built really well from clean sheets in recent weeks and seasons.

“Thankfully, we are getting back to that style again.

"Gareth probably had more to do today than he would have liked.

“To be fair to Dungannon, they broke and attacked well and they were unlucky with a deflected effort that hit the crossbar which Gareth couldn’t do an awful lot about.

“Thankfully, with the way he is playing he deserved that little bit of luck to keep his clean sheet as I know it would have disappointed him if he lost it."

The Bannsiders raced into a two-goal lead at The Showgrounds thanks to strikes from Matthew Shevlin, his 14th of the season, and a first in Coleraine colours for defender Conor McDermott.

“You crave that start and we’ve been punished for similar starts against us at home this season, where we’ve found ourselves 2-0 down after ten minutes," said Kearney.

“Ideally, it worked for us that way and people will say Matthew’s goal is just a tap in but if you don’t follow that in or anticipate, then you don’t get the goal.

“To be fair to Conor, he’s been threatening a goal all season and I think everyone was delighted to see him get off the mark for the club.

“He’s been super, he’s had a great season to date and it’s great to see him register his first goal."

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