Coleraine to get league campaign underway
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Jumping for joy: local children react positively to the news that popular Coleraine winger Stephen Carson is running a soccer school at the Coleraine Showgrounds all this week. The Ballymoney man will be hoping to get back to his real job of terrorising I
AFTER a delayed start, the much-heralded new IFA Premiership finally gets underway this Saturday with Coleraine making the long trek to face Newry City.
It's arguably the worst journey of the season to have to make and while it is a less than ideal start for new Bannsiders' manager David Platt it simply has to be done.
The postponement of last week's game against Cliftonville on what was to have been the opening day of the new season hasn't helped preparations but Platt is quietly confident that all the hard work done in pre-season will pay off, starting on Saturday.
“Obviously I was disappointed with the way things happened last weekend but it's over and done with now as far as I'm concerned. We now have to concentrate on Newry City and adapt our preparations accordingly."
Platt and the players' sole emphasis had been on Cliftonville in the run-up to the start of the league so now it's a case of redefining goals.
“Newry traditionally start the season well so we'll have to be on our guard if we want to get something from the game," said Platt, a 33-year-old civil servant.
“They beat us three times in four meetings last season though the margin of victory was always quite small. We beat them once at their place in the live Sky game, a result which many people believe helped turn around our season.
“They like to play good football and have strengthened their squad since we last met but I think we have strengthened too. We let four players go and brought four new faces in and I believe we are stronger now than we were at this stage last season.
“But the proof of the pudding will come this Saturday in our first competitive game. You can do all the work you like in pre-season but you don't know where you're at until you play your first competitive game."
