Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HEALY: THIS COULD BE A VITAL POINT DOWN THE LINE
Coleraine 0 Linfield 0
LINFIELD boss David Healy believes Saturday’s battling 0-0 draw with Coleraine can be filed under VIP for ‘very important point’.
The Blues could have won it late on when both Josh Robinson and Michael O’connor saw close range efforts rattle the woodwork.
But overall, Healy was pleased to leave the Showgrounds with a valuable share of the spoils as the Blues stayed top of the league table.
“Further down the line, you might look at this as a big point for us,” he said.
“I’ve got to be pleased coming to a team like Coleraine, who are going to be up there challenging, and come away with a 0-0 draw.
“It was also important to keep another clean sheet, especially when you come away to your title rivals.”
New Coleraine boss Rodney Mcaree, who saw Blues keeper Roy Carroll deny Ian Parkhill and Jamie Mcgonigle, was left to reflect on a “fair result” in his first game at the helm.
He said: “It was a great atmosphere and occasion to be involved in, but unfortunately we didn’t get the goal in a game that looked as if it could end up 1-0 either way.
“It was a little bit tentative. We didn’t take our chances and then from 70 minutes on Linfield had a lot of the play, put a lot of ball into our box and we rode our luck a little.”
Coleraine host derby rivals Ballymena United in their next league outing tomorrow night.