Coleraine manager Dean Shiels says he has “mixed emotions” after their 1-1 draw with defending champions Larne at the Showgrounds.
Matthew Shevlin opened the scoring for the Bannsiders from the spot in the first half before Andy Ryan‘s penalty ensured the spoils were shared.
“They’re a top side and when you don’t get beat by them that is a positive,” he told BBC Sport NI.
“I think the position we were in, we had a real period where we had good chances to make it 2-0 and we lacked that quality to get the second goal.
“Second half we were a bit anxious, we dropped in and Larne brought quality in with Ryan.”
Shiels was also keen to praise Coleraine’s defensive effort as they limited Larne to a handful of opportunities.
“Overall, I thought Rory Brown was protected well, they had nothing clear cut so defensively I thought we were superb.”
Goal scorer Shevlin conceded that a draw was a satisfactory outcome given the ebb and flow of the game.
“We probably edged the first half, second half they changed their shape a bit and it took us a while to cope with it, so a draw is probably a fair result,” he said.
The striker, who has three goals so far this campaign, was pleased with his side’s performance after the disappointment of last week’s 2-0 defeat against Glenavon.
“We wanted a response from last week, we knew it wasn’t good enough so it was about showing character and thankfully we did that today.”