Carland remains upbeat ahead of Ballymoney clash

BOTTOM-of-the-table Larne are targeting a badly-needed win against Ballymoney United in the league on Saturday and assistant boss Paul Carland is hopeful it will be the first of a run of victories to hoist them away from the relegation zone.

For Larne, nothing short of a win will suffice against United.

It is being branded as a typical crunch game for the Inver Park team in a six-pointer between the two clubs propping up the table.

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“It’s a match we desperately want to win and a victory could move us up a couple of places and leave us in a situation where a follow-up win would probably have us in a more respectable mid-table position, which is where we deserve to be,” said Carland.

The former club playing stalwart says Larne’s chances of fulfilling their objectives have been enhanced by the return of Liam Carland and Mark Craig. However, centre-forward Ricky Higgins misses out due to a one-match ban.

“That will give us a few extra options alright and, with the re-arranging of the Ballyclare Comrades league fixture for November 20, there are lots of things to look forward to this month,” said Carland.

“And there’s good news as well in that Robbie White should be back later by the end of the month, which will give everybody a little fillip,” he added.

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A 2-0 victory in the Intermediate Cup clash against Mid-Ulster side Richhill United was satisfactory. But, although Larne were never in danger of losing the tie, Carland admits it was far from a spectacle and his team had to grind out a result.

“It was a strange game in many ways because we probably dominated from start-to-finish and created stacks and stacks of chances, while they were restricted to a couple of half-hearted opportunities – yet you could say they made us work hard for the win,” he said.

“We had to be patient and, as time wore on, there was perhaps a bit of frustration creeping in.

“We like to go out and play the game at a high tempo and we started like that on Saturday but they wound us down until they were dictating the pace at pedestrian level.

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“At half-time we had our usual full and frank discussion and that made a difference, as did manager Paul Millar’s few changes. He took off Lee Thompson and moved Craig Todd up front and this worked a treat as he set up Davy Larmour for the goal which sealed the win.

“Davy had already scored the first goal and it’s terrific for the experienced striker because it’s three goals in two games for him now and that will help leave him brimming with confidence after playing for a while with a calf injury, which obviously restricted his effectiveness.

“The fact that we’re sitting bottom of the table distorts the picture a bit because we are playing well and have a good squad, determined to do even better.

“We’re going nicely in a couple of cup competitions, but now we must concentrate on improving our position in the league because that is always the main priority,” said Carland.

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