Glentoran players need ruthlessness in front of goal, says Warren Feeney as he tips teenage defender to one day captain the club

The Glens have lost twice against Carrick Rangers and drew at home to Dungannon Swifts so far this season, which means they find themselves a whooping 15 points behind leaders Linfield.

After suffering back-to-back defeats in both the Premiership and BetMcLean Cup, Feeney's men picked up a point after a 0-0 draw away to Coleraine on Monday night.

The east Belfast side left The Showgrounds frustrated by only taking a share of the spoils as they dominated the first-half and spurned three glorious opportunities to take the lead.

"I said to the players after the game that no disrespect to the smaller teams but you'd normally think it was a great point if you got a draw at Coleraine," Feeney said.

"But we've lost points to the smaller teams this season.

"When you're at Glentoran Football Club and the expectation is no matter who you're playing you have to go out and go and win the game.

"Man City don't care who they are playing, they go and try to beat them 10-0.

"I said to the players they have to have that belief and ruthlessness. We will get it right."

The Glens had to field a makeshift back four on Monday night as Marcus Kane, Bobby Burns, Aidan Wilson, Rhys Marshall and Luke McCullough were all absent.

This meant starts for teenage duo Aaron Wightman and Jonathan Russell as full-backs and Feeney was impressed by their performances and tipped the latter to one day wear the captain's armband.

"I'll go on record and say Johnny Russell will be a future captain of this football club,” he added.

"He's only had three training sessions in the last eight weeks because he had a job with NIE and we've just got him full-time.

"He had been playing for the reserves on a Monday night and that's why he was cramping up tonight.

"Aaron Wightman has been the same he's missed the last six or seven weeks but the two of them were outstanding as well as the two centre-halves.

"Aaron is a powerful runner and both he and Johnny bring energy.

"They'll only get better, they're still at a great age and playing at a big club like this can only help them with their career.

"We're down to the bare bones, we had three left-footers in the back four, but I thought they were all outstanding tonight, it was a real team performance."

Speaking about the missed chances at the Coleraine Showgrounds on Monday night, Feeney reflected.

"I would be more worried if we weren't creating chances. So this is something we can work on on the training ground.

"Being a striker myself we always say to them when they watch the top players like Chelsea and Man City on Sunday they get in there and want to score goals.

"I keep saying to my boys that if they score in training they'll score in games, so that gives us something to work on in training."