Linfield vs Larne: Players keen to put things right after frustrating start says Tiernan Lynch
Tiernan Lynch insists his Larne players are determined to "put things right" on the pitch after a disappointing start to the new season.
The back-to-back Irish Premiership champions have picked up only one point from their opening two league games following their delayed start to their title defence. Last Saturday's defeat to Ballymena United left Lynch and his players frustrated by their own admission.
The Larne boss says it is now up to them to turn things around starting with this afternoon's trip to Linfield. "There was probably nobody more disappointed than the players," said Lynch reflecting on the defeat to Ballymena.
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"They're the ones who take the pitch and set the standards. Last week wasn't at their standard or level and they were disappointed with that. Now it's about dusting ourselves down and going and putting it right. You've got to play all the teams in this league. To win games like this we need more so we've got to go again."
The Invermen currently sit 12 points off the league leaders at the other end of the table. They have three games in hand on David Healy's men due to their extended run in Europe, but Lynch refused to use their success in the UEFA Conference League as any sort of excuse for their stuttering start to the domestic campaign.
"I certainly wouldn't make excuses about playing in Europe, that's had nothing to do with it," he said. "It wasn't good enough on the day, that's it. We let ourselves down, we aren't going to make any excuses for it as we didn't do enough to win the game. I am disappointed first and foremost and frustrated secondly.
"I thought we were probably the better team on the day but credit to Ballymena as they had a game plan which was spot on. They stayed in the game, broke the game up, made it difficult for us to see if they could get a sucker-punch - which they did.
"We probably fell right into their trap. We let ourselves get frustrated when we should have stayed calm and got back on the ball again. We played too much in front of them and we tried to work it left and right but we never got behind them enough. We never created enough, we probably lacked enough penetration today and we are hugely disappointed.
"We lacked that killer instinct and I thought we were a bit lacklustre. It's very unlike us but it's something we will have to look at. It was a disappointing day and we needed to go back and reflect on the things we didn't do so well and keep trying to improve."
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