Linfield boss explains Coleraine postponement as he dismisses ‘fear’ suggestion

Linfield were due to travel to The Showgrounds on Sunday for a crucial Irish Premiership clash with Coleraine

David Healy has explained Linfield’s request to postpone their League game at Coleraine dismissing any suggestion of fearing to play the Bannsiders.

The Blues were due to play Ruaidhri Higgins’ side this Sunday in a game that was rescheduled due to their extended run in the Conference League as they play Shelbourne in the crucial second leg of their play-off this Thursday night.

But the game at The Showgrounds has now been postponed at the request of Linfield with Healy explaining their reasoning behind the decision.

“First and foremost, we played the two league games in between ties. We’ve not asked for or requested any other games off that we’ve had any to do with,” he said.

” Ballymena called the game off because of the Sunday rule that they have. The Carrick game was postponed on the Tuesday night because we were playing 48 hours later against Shelbourne.

“But it’s just coming off the back of this game as in an opportunity to potentially rest a few limbs.

“Thankfully, the league and Coleraine have been understanding the situation. We’ll play the game tomorrow night. We’ll fully focus when we do play Coleraine again. We’ve no fear of playing Coleraine or anybody.

“We’ve been on the go for seven or eight weeks. We haven’t requested any games off. I know there was leeway given to Larne last year and rightly so.

“When clubs are in Europe, there’s got to be an understanding at some stage that there’s going to be some sort of come down, be it cloud nine on Thursday or potentially ground zero if you don’t go through.

“It’s important that you regroup, refresh and move on. And move on quickly we will. But no, as I said, the game’s off on Sunday and we look forward to playing Coleraine whenever they decide to push for that.”