As has been the case on so many occasions, Joel Cooper popped up with an important goal to steer Coleraine to victory on Saturday.

Cooper kept his cool to net the opener on 56 minutes in a hard-fought 2-0 win for the Bannsiders against a stubborn Carrick Rangers side on a difficult playing surface at Taylors Avenue.

The 30-year-old, who has been handed the captain's armband by Ruaidhri Higgins in the absence of the injured Mark Coyle, was quiet for much of the contest, but made a telling contribution when it mattered most as he has built a reputation of doing at the club and during his previous spell at Linfield.

Cooper, who was Coleraine's top goalscorer last season, burst into life to get off the mark in the third game of this campaign, latching onto Dylan Boyle's inch-perfect pass before coolly slotting past Nathan Gartside with a low first-time finish.

Cooper cut a frustrated figure in a first half in which he had little room to manoeuvre while his strike partner, the normally reliable Matthew Shevlin, had a rare off day, passing up three big chances.

Conor McMenamin didn't have the desired impact off the bench as he continues to find his feet at the club following his big-money move, but bringing him on did allow Cooper to move into a more central position and he duly delivered with a clinical finish which was all the more valuable given others were off the pace.

"Joel scored a brilliant first goal after the pass from Dylan Boyle and we know how important he is to us," Higgins told BBC Sportsound of arguably their most integral player.

The concern now for Higgins will be that Cooper limped off before the end of the game clutching his groin to add to Coleraine's injury worries.

They are already without first-choice goalkeeper Ryan Schofield, Rowan McDonald, the experienced Coyle and fellow long-term absentees Kodi Lyons-Foster and James Akintunde, with Higgins trying to be upbeat about the fitness of his star man.

"It's too early after the game to see where it's at. We don't know the extent hopefully it's not too bad," he said.

"We have a really good group of players here. Injuries are part of football unfortunately at the minute we have two or three too many but we'll be okay."

Given his goalscoring exploits, they could ill-afford to lose Cooper for an extended period now, but they did manage to end the game strongly and score a second after he exited.

Ben Doherty raced away to net his second of the season and wrap up a satisfying victory for the Bannsiders three minutes from time.

He formed part of a Coleraine defence that looked solid, with the new centre-back pairing of Aidan Wilson and Rob Slevin seeming to have formed a good partnership already, although they were not troubled as much as they would have anticipated with Paul Heatley and Adam Lecky out injured for the hosts.

Stand-in goalkeeper Lewis Webb made a stunning save to deny Billy Joe Burns in the first half that was crucial in helping the Bannsiders to a second successive clean sheet.

It was a pleasing win for the unbeaten Bannsiders, who edged top of the table a point ahead of Glentoran and Cliftonville after three games.

With Larne not in action this weekend or next they have the chance to extend the gap between them and the champions as they face Portadown away next weekend, another tough test in which they will be expected to pass if they want to challenge for the Gibson Cup.

The exciting thing for Higgins and Coleraine fans is they can be even better and more ruthless than they were against Carrick, which should strike fear into other teams when they really kick into gear.