Coach disappointed with performance

The Blues had been on a poor run but Law had hoped it would come to an end having worked on their problems in training. However, the Blues put in arguably their poorest display of the season and limped to a listless 2-0 defeat.

He said: “We had a particularly disappointing first half.
“Then we made a few changes and added a bit of energy to the team but the first half was particularly flat.

“We’ve been on a really bad run of form and we thought that we had addressed it but clearly we hadn’t. We didn’t play well at all. When we pressed them, we pressed well but it was only on occasion.

“They scored a couple early on and merited them as well. It’s not easy to accept a first half performance like that.

“We refocus on our performance after the matches, how we work on the ball, off the ball, how we’re organised and we feel that we’ve taken that information and have approached each game well. However, performance wise, we’ve been well below what we expect of ourselves.

“As regards their penalty, a few of our guys who were down at that end thought that it was a penalty but Kris (Lindsay) thought that he just lost his footing. He didn’t think there was any contact but I haven’t seen it back yet so I’m not sure. If Kris has caught him, then it’s a penalty but if not then they’ve got lucky with that one.

“I know the crowd didn’t react well to Andrew Mitchell being taken off. Andrew’s a local boy and he’s popular. I think a lot of the crowd’s reaction to his substitution stemmed from the fact that he was having a good ten or 15 minutes in the second half.

“I think when you look at his performance for the overall 60 minutes, he knows that it was below the levels that he needs to play regularly. He knows that himself.

“Andrew has a lot of ability and he’s a great lad. He’s a big player for this club but we have to remember that he’s 19 and with that comes inconsistency but a massive opportunity for development. He’ll come back a better player.

“We don’t want to be dragged down towards the bottom. We’re still looking ahead rather than looking at the teams behind us. We feel like we have a good run of games in us like we did earlier in the season.

“Everything in this league comes down to momentum and we had a great run of five games where we played well and with confidence. We were winning games and keeping clean sheets but likewise the momentum turns.

“We’ve hit a bad run, we haven’t played well and we’ve lost a bit of belief. At the same time, one good performance changes everything and we can get back onto a good run again.

“We’re still considerably better off than we were this time last season. Our message has always been to take the club forward. You can never build a two-storey building without having the right foundations in place.

“We’re in a foundation-building process and it’s never going to turn overnight. Clubs like Ballymena who were established and always slightly better than Glenavon over a period of years - they’re now in the process of moving on but we’re trying to get towards being a Ballymena. We’re trying to get to the stage where we’re never in the relegation battle and that we can move on from.”