Coleraine with greater ambitions for the new season

Coleraine coach Ruaidhri Higgins insisted his team "are better prepared for the new season than last year." Coleraine finished last season in second place, three points behind Championship-winning Larne, but the Bannsiders won the Irish Cup for the first time since 2018. In the summer transfer window, Scotsman Jay Henderson and Northern Irish representative Conor McMenamin joined the team, and Ben Doherty returned from Derry City. Four players left the team. "Of course, Larne are champions and deserve respect. But we feel we are going into this season in better shape than last year. There is real excitement around the club and the way we finished last season only reinforced that. We know there will be a lot of competition this year, but we are confident that we will have a good season. Last year we were second and won the Irish Cup, so our aim this year is to go a step further and win the league," Higgins told the BBC Sports NI. Coleraine qualified for European cups for the first time since 2018 and will face Finnish HJK Helsinki in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League. "We will definitely be the underdog in this match, HJK is a big brand in Finnish football and they have famous players in their team. They are halfway through the season and we have good time to prepare. The ideal solution will be to come to Coleraine with a small loss or no loss at all. Even though they will be the favorites, there is no reason why we cannot make a surprise," added the Coleraine coach.