Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I HOPE TO NET JAMES Mcaree keen for in-form striker to commit to Bannsiders
COLERAINE striker James Mclaughlin’s future remains undecided despite returning to a rich vein of form in recent weeks.
Mclaughlin, who bagged his sixth goal in eight outings in Tuesday’s 2-0 league win at Dungannon, is out of contract in the summer.
And while boss Rodney Mcaree is mindful the 28-year-old, who returned from a serious knee injury earlier this season, hasn’t played a lot of football in the past 18 months, he is reluctant to see the frontman exit the club.
“I’ve had a conversation with James,” said Mcaree, inset. “We don’t want to lose him, but over the past two seasons he has only played nine or 10 games.
“He’s been great in recent weeks but we just have to be careful while at the same time pushing and driving him to keep improving.”
Mclaughlin, who joined Coleraine in 2015, bagged 33 goals in his first two seasons with the club before suffering a serious knee injury in July 2017.
“Big James knows where the net is,” said Mcaree. “His goal against Dungannon on
Tuesday was superb and it was a good finish.
“He’s got to try to continue to get minu t e s under his belt, keep working on his fitness and take his opportunities when they come.”
Mclaughlin opened the scoring at Dungannon before Stephen Lowry added a second to help ease Coleraine up to fourth in the table.
Mcaree, who left the Swifts in September to take up the Showgrounds reins, said “I know from experience that Dungannon is not an easy place to go, so it was a big result.
“I thought our shape was good and defensively we were very good. It’s a clean sheet which is great for our goalkeeper Chris Johns and also our back four who were exceptional.”
Next up for Coleraine is a daunting weekend trip to David Healy’s Linfield who lie six points clear at the top of the Danske Bank Premiership.
The Bannmen inflicted the Blues’ only home league loss of the campaign in November when two own goals helped secured a 2-1 win.
“It’s a tough place to go, but we’ve been on a good run of results recently,” said Mcaree.
“We did well the last day we played there and played some excellent football. It was a real highlight, so the challenge for us is to try and repeat that level of performance.”