Coleraine's Matthew Shevlin has big targets in his sights after bagging personal milestone

Matthew Shevlin has two big targets in mind after reaching a huge personal milestone at the weekend. The Coleraine striker's hat-trick against Dungannon Swifts moved him on to 101 career goals in the Irish League, but he is hungry for more.

With five goals in his last two Shevlin has moved on to 12 goals for the season, one behind his total for an injury-hit campaign last year. He has set his sights on moving past that quickly with Crusaders and BetMcLean Cup glory his target this evening.

“I’m only one goal off what I got for the whole of last season already, granted, I only played 25 games last season due to a few niggly injuries," said the 25-year-old. “I’m just hoping to push on for the rest of the season now.

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“We want to win the League Cup this season, it’s a major trophy and the club has done well in the competition over the last few years. Crusaders stand in our way so we will try and beat them on Tuesday night.”

Shevlin showed all his predatory instincts with his first two goals against the Swifts on Saturday and he admitted there was only one person going to be hitting the Coleraine penalty after Rhyss Campbell was brought down in the box.

“I was on the penalties anyway, never mind having the chance to secure the hat-trick," he said. “I’ve had a few braces in there with missed chances to get the hat-trick.

“I was happy to get what is my third hat-trick for Coleraine. A few pieces of banter have been written on the match ball but that’s part of being a team and we’ve shown that in the last few weeks through character and by sticking together.”

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