Larne lose ground at top of table

Larne FC recorded a second defeat in a week as they fell to a 2-0 loss at home to Coleraine on Friday evening.
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A goal inside the first five minutes from Matthew Shevlin and a Conor McKendry strike just before half time sealed the win for the visitors.

Friday’s defeat came only days after the east Antrim side lost 1-0 to Linfield at Windsor Park on Tuesday.

The Inver Park outfit remain top of the Danske Bank Irish Premiership standings on 38 points, two clear of second-placed Cliftonville, who have played a game less.

Tiernan Lynch.Tiernan Lynch.
Tiernan Lynch.

Speaking to Larne’s media director Ian Cahoon after the game on November 25, manager Tiernan Lynch said: “We got out-worked. Coleraine wanted it more than us. This group of players have been outstanding all season and we’ve had a bad game and a half now. It was hugely disappointing for everybody, not just losing, but probably the manner in which we lost the game. I’m not making any excuses, I’m taking this one square on the chin.

"Colearine won first ball, they won second ball- they fought harder than we did. We got a little bit better in the second half as far as possession was concerned, but we didn’t hurt them, we didn’t get in behind them. We have to apologise to the fans. They got behind us. They sang from minute one until 90, they even clapped the players off and they were still singing for them at the end- that hurts.

"We don’t mind getting beaten by teams that are better then us, but being outworked is a tough pill to swallow.

"We can’t let this be something that it’s not. We’re not a bad team. We haven’t became a bad team overnight. We haven’t stopped caring or working hard. We’ve to make sure that we put this right very quickly.

"The two goals we conceded were really poor goals, we defended poorly for them and are hugely disappointed.”

Next up for Larne is an away trip to Glenavon on Friday (7.45pm).

Larne’s east Antrim neighbours suffered a 2-0 defeat at home to Ballymena on Saturday thanks to late goals from Douglas Wilson (73) and Sean Graham (87).

Speaking to the club’s media team after the clash, manager Stuart King said: “I thought we were okay in the first half, not bad at all. They came out a lot better than us in the second half, fair play to them.

"We bin it and we move on quickly. Our quality in the second half wasn’t good enough.”

Next up for the Taylors Avenue outfit is an away tie against Linfield on Saturday (3pm).

King added: “We’ll go to the biggest club in the country and we’ll give it everything. We know it’ll not be easy, but we know we can get results. If my players have a wee bit of belief and we work on things this week, there’s no reason why we can’t go there and give it a go.”

Meanwhile, a Conall Curran goal on 81 minutes was enough to see Ballyclare Comrades earn all three points against Institute at Dixon Park on Saturday.

The result keeps the south Antrim side sixth in the Lough 41 NIFL Championship standings.

Stephen Small’s charges face an away clash with Knockbreda on Saturday (2pm).