Coleraine midfielder Rhyss Campbell believes the club are already seeing the benefit of their switch to full-time football.
The Bannsiders travel to the Oval to face Glentoran on Tuesday buoyed by last week’s derby victory over Ballymena that came despite playing for more than half an hour with 10-men after Jamie Glackin’s red card.
“It shows the character of the team and we’ll be looking to do the same on Tuesday night,” said Campbell who scored his side’s third in the 4-2 win.
Dean Shiels’ side certainly looked the fresher outfit on Friday night, with Matthew Shevlin’s goal for the undermanned victors coming deep in injury time, and Campbell credited the side’s head of performance Junior Mendes for the increased fitness levels achieved since switching to a full-time model this summer.
“Junior, he’s putting us through our paces. He gets us for a while every day in the gym, makes sure we’re looked after, and I’d put that down to him.
“Dungannon we finished strong, Ballymena we finished strong, there’s hard work going on behind the scenes.”
Coleraine, who could have Jamie McGonigle back for the trip to east Belfast, impressed Declan Devine with their work-rate against Ballymena but the Glens boss wants to see his side build on their own late victory over Portadown.
“We know we’re in for a really tough scrap on Tuesday,” he said.
“I was very impressed by them and their willingness to dig in down to 10 men.
“I can’t influence what Dean and his new squad are going to do. We’ve got to concentrate on what we do and that’s being together, working hard, giving everything for the shirt and trying to play on the front foot.”
