Coleraine 'Crues' to victory at Seaview
Coleraine head coach Ruaidhri Higgins praised the ‘professionalism’ of his players as they retuned to the top of the table with a whopping 5-0 win at Crusaders on Saturday.
The win sees the Bannsiders replace overnight leaders Linfield at the top of the Sports Direct Premiership.
The visitors started brightly in stormy conditions at Seaview and were handed a boost when Crusaders defender Scot Rough was given his marching orders after 11 minutes by referee Shane Andrews following a crude challenge on Ben Wylie.
The Bannsiders took full advantage of the extra man and opened the scoring midway through the first half when Ben Wylie ran on to a pass from Senan Devine to poke the ball past Crusaders keeper Shea Callister.
Devine, recalled to the starting line-up as one of five changes to the side which started in the dramatic defeat of Larne, turned from provider to goalscorer with a superb strike to double the away side’s lead after half an hour.
Ruaidhri Higgins’ side went into the break three goal to the good as captain Joel Cooper swept home a Ben Doherty pass from 12 yards minutes before half-time.
The unfortunate Jacob Blaney put through his own net seven minutes after the restart to make it 4-0 to Coleraine to quell any faint hopes of a Crusaders comeback.
And a perfect afternoon for Coleraine was complete in the closing minutes when Adam Brooks, who made switch from Seaview to the Showgrounds in the summer, scored his first goal for his new club, sliding in to direct Lewis McGregor’s low cross into the goal.
All in all a tremendous result and the perfect belated birthday present for Ruaidhri Higgins who celebrated his 42nd birthday on Friday.
"It was a really good result for us. No doubt the red card gave us a huge advantage in the game, but we took huge advantage of that,” he said.
"It's been a good ground for us over the past 15 months and we're delighted with the win. I'm really happy with some of our play and we kept a clean sheet on a horrendous day weather wise.
"We scored three brilliant team goals in the first half and I'm just really pleased with our application in the game, the professionalism and how we went about it.
"I'm also delighted for Adam Brooks to get his first goal. He's got brilliant movement to find space in the box and that'll be the first of many I'm sure,” he added.