Rory Patterson will leave Coleraine for Glentoran at the end of the season — and he wants to depart with a medal in his pocket.

The man who replicates rapper Jay-Z’s diamond hand sign when he scores has his sights on gold with the Bannsiders.

Patterson has proved that signing a pre-contract with the Glens won’t divert his focus from the job in hand, with an amazing strike rate of seven goals in his last three games — including a hat-trick against the east Belfast men at the weekend.

He is heading to the Oval tonight in a different situation though, with Coleraine facing Dungannon Swifts in the semi-final of the Co-operative Insurance Cup with only victory in mind.

“I had a good day the last time at the Oval, scoring four and it would be nice to do that again,” said Patterson.

“If we get a place in the final I don’t care who scores or how it comes about.

“We’re in this semi-final, we’re still in the Irish Cup as well and I think even as far down as Portadown in seventh place everyone is still challenging to win the league.

“I want to be successful and win things and I know the club does too.

“They got to the Irish Cup final a couple of years ago and there is a hunger at the club to get back into more finals. For boys like me who weren’t at the club at that time, we want to experience that.

“I believe that we have the quality in the squad to do it and we’ve proved that the way we’ve played this season.”

It’s not just because of his decision to pledge the next three seasons of his career to Glentoran that Patterson is the talk of the local game.

An unknown when he joined the Bannsiders from Conference North side Droylsden in the summer, everyone knows his name now after firing 26 goals in all competitions this season.

And being in the form of his life isn’t all down to the the 25-year-old himself.

“I am playing in a team that loves to attack and wants to break forward every time we get the ball,” said Patterson.

“No matter who you are strikers need service and I am getting great service from the wide players and the boys in midfield.

“On Saturday Stephen Carson gave me an easy tap-in for the second goal against Glentoran.

“It’s great to play as a striker in a team like that because you know that you are always going to get chances and I am confident that if I get chances I will score goals.”

And with goals comes the diamond hand sign that has quickly become his trademark.

“It started off as a bit of wind-up between a group of my friends when we were out one night,” revealed Patterson.

“It’s the sign that Jay-Z makes with his hands, we were doing it when we were out and my mates said I should do it as a celebration the next time I scored. I did it once and I’ve just kept doing it.”

Coleraine fans would love to see it even more between now and the end of the season, particularly in the Co-operative Cup final.

e PORTADOWN will host a live televised domestic game for the first time next month.

Their meeting with Coleraine has been brought forward from Saturday March 20 to the previous evening.

Sky Sports bosses have plumped for the game in the hope that it will provide a goal-fest.

Coleraine and the Ports were the Carling Premiership’s two highest scorers before last weekend’s games — when Linfield overtook the Shamrock Park men, whose match was postponed.

The next local game to be screened by Sky will be Crusaders home clash with Glenavon on Monday March 1.