Institute boss Sean Connor pleased with Coleraine victory

The Waterside men secured their second league success of the season, as their blood, sweat and hard worked continues to pay off.

“I’m delighted. I said to them afterwards that that win has been coming, possibly here against Glentoran, maybe away to Crusaders – so that’s a well-deserved win,” he said.

“It didn’t happen over the 90 minutes, it happened over the last five or six weeks and it’s a big, big boost.

“We started on the front foot like we always try to do, but I think the big difference was that we went two goals up. I think since I’ve been here we haven’t shown the capacity to concede a lot of goals, so I was very, very confident at 2-0.

"I’d have liked a third to see it out but I thought the second half was composed and controlled, and we did what we had to do.

“For us, it’s always really important to get the first goal because it gives us a bit of momentum, and it rocks them. Coleraine came here top of the league, they’re a really good side, but we were well prepared.

“We know what they were going to try to do and we stifled that. Within that it creates weaknesses in their team and we exploited the weaknesses and score two good goals.

“At half-time I told them to keep it going because anybody that thinks they can take their foot off the pedal will be sitting on the bench next week – it’s very simple.”

Connor was thrilled by Gareth Brown’s stunning second goal, but he also praised Shane McNamee and Stephen Curry in the build up to the spectacular strike.

“Gareth’s goal was a fantastic finish, but Shane McNamee made a great run off the ball to take players away and Stevie Curry pressed to win it back, so there’s lots of things that have to happen for him to have that time and space.

“His awareness and finish was fantastic, but other players were involved as well. It was a great finish, and I’m delighted for him because he’s worked so hard over the last four or five games.

“On Tuesday night I was disappointed because we missed him. He sets the tempo for a lot of what we do up front and we missed him, so it was good to have him back.

“At times they had the ball at the back and they couldn’t break through our lines. They might have had five or six men up top and were just thumping the ball up. We controlled everything and I don’t think they had a clear cut chance in the second half.”