Coleraine are only going to improve but Play-Off emotion will linger, admits Lyndon Kane

It was an agonising way to lose, with Crusaders bagging an added time winner through long-serving Jordan Owens, with the scores locked at 2-2.

Jamie McGonigle and Josh Carson were on target for the Bannsiders, while Jarlath O’Rourke and Daniel Larmour replied for Stephen Baxter’s boys – it was the manager’s last game in charge after 19 successful years.

Although deflated and disillusioned, Kane believes the future is bright, especially as the club is about to embark on a new era following the takeover by Bannsiders Holdings, an organisation run by Ranald McGregor-Smith and Patrick Mitchell.

The pair both attended school in Coleraine and have strong family ties in the area, and have now assumed ownership.

“There is a new era dawning or the club,” said Kane, who recently pledged his future to the Bannsiders, agreeing a new three-year contract.

“I signed a new contact to stay at the club, I’m committed. We are about to embark on a new project going forward. It’s something I believe in. I’ve spoken to Oran (Kearney) in depth about the project.

“That’s where I want to be. Larne is the template; they have set the standard with what they have achieved.

“Yes, it took a bit of time, but they got everything in the proper order, now they have been crowned champions for the past two years.

“That’s what we must aspire to. It will not happen overnight, it will be a building process, but I think we have decent foundations and decent infrastructure.

“Hopefully over the summer we can strengthen the squad. We certainly have the right man at the helm, in terms of our manager, to move the club forward.”

After a long, hard season, Kane is looking forward to a break before it starts all over again.

He went on: “We can’t afford to dwell on it on the result at Seaview, it’s gone. We must build on what we did over the last period of the League campaign.

“We put a lot of emphasis on the Play-Offs and we were building towards that. There has been a massive momentum change within in the changing room and within in the club.

“Obviously the defeat is still very raw with us but we must take the positives out of our recent performances and look to the future. Everyone will go away and push the reset button.

“We are all getting a programme for when we come back – our target will be making Europe next year.”

Kane agrees his team lost the Play-Off in the cruellest of circumstances, with Owens striker deep in to added time.

“It was a killer blow, it was a sore one to concede,” he added. “In saying that, the two quick goals we gave away in the first half ended up killing us in the end. They could have been prevented – that 60 seconds cost us.

“The winner came so late on; we couldn’t do anything about it. The (linesman’s) board went us, with six minutes on it, but the goal came a few minutes after that.

“Realistically, when the goal went in, we knew it was game over for us. It was a real kick in the teeth – the last minute of the season.

“Unfortunately it ended in tears for us. We came so far; we worked very hard as a club and a team since January. We brought in new additions, so to fall just at the last hurdle was tough to take.

“We just couldn’t manage the game when we were ahead.”