Coleraine kept their European hopes alive on Saturday as a narrow 1-0 win over Portadown secured a top six finish.
It was a tense afternoon at The Showgrounds as Joel Cooper watched on from the stands.
The Linfield forward is set to complete a summer move to the Ballycastle Road with Bannsiders hoping his competitive debut for his new club will come in European competition.
READ MORE: Manchester United hero now a billionaire with over seven times Cristiano Ronaldo's net worth
READ MORE: Ian Wright snaps up former Irish League star for Baller League team
Shiels refused to be drawn on Cooper's attendance at the game as Dylan Boyle's second half goal secure a top half finish for the hosts with the Coleraine boss challenging his side to keep their impressive recent form going.
"Was he? I didn't even know that," smiled Shiels when asked about Cooper coming to the game.
"Look Joel is still a Linfield player and it would be remiss of me to pass comment."
On his hopes for the rest of the season the Bannsiders boss added: "We have to keep looking up and realistically with the form that we are in, we have to look to finish the season as strongly as possible.
"We know there will be play-offs at the end of the season, so realistically, you are two games away from Europe in that situation.
"It's about keeping that continuity, rhythm and momentum going into the split and seeing where it takes us.
"Our aim is to be in the mix for European qualification. We've shown loads of progress since day one of the season and you can see that we look strong.
"The one thing I will say is that we look a hard team to beat and us going into the top-six, I think we will be hard to beat."
The win over Portadown made it six games unbeaten for Coleraine, a run that lifted them from the lower reaches of the table to five points off second place.
Shiels was quick to praise his players for turning things around after a season of transition at The Showgrounds and goal scorer Boyle in particular.
"I'm really proud of the players," he said. "Initially there were expectations of what the season would look like and we knew it was going to be difficult early on due to no continuity and we turned a lot of part-time players full-time, which has its challenges as well.
"We got to the next window which was January and we wanted to add continuity then and we will see the best from them next season. For us, it's about finishing the season as strongly as we can and building again for the future.
"Dylan has been instrumental in everything that we do and has been superb all season in terms of in and out of possession."
Join Belfast Live’s new Irish League WhatsApp group. Click this link to receive the latest Irish League headlines and breaking news direct to your phone. We also treat our members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our group, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice
