David Healy hails Linfield's adaptability after "winning ugly" against Newry City to restore eight-point lead

Following a forgettable first-half in which both teams failed to create much in terms of clear cut chances, the Blues came roaring out of the traps after the break with Matthew Fitzpatrick, Joel Cooper and Kirk Millar scoring quickfire goals to help the visitors secure victory.

"I don’t think we played out from the back once today because it wasn’t conducive to that – it wasn’t the day for that or to be disrespectful to Newry,” said Healy. "Great credit to Newry because the scenes that I seen earlier in the week I was fearing that we had no chance of playing, so great credit to them for the work in getting the game on.

"We had to win ugly. We’ve been to Loughgall, Carrick and Newry away now and it’s not about performances but winning matches and we’ve done that in all three.

"It’s important that you find a way to win.

"It’s always nice, especially at Windsor, if you can play well and everybody is enjoying the day out, but I enjoy it when we’ve won and we can enjoy the three points ahead of a big game against Glentoran on Tuesday night.”

Given their change of fortunes in the second-half, you’d have hypothesised that Healy delivered a rousing team talk at the break, but instead the former Northern Ireland international says it was about getting the fundamentals right.

“We didn’t change anything,” he added. "I wouldn’t say we spoke about being patient because the more patient you are, the longer you have to wait.

"We spoke about being more decisive. There were so many times in the first-half, especially on the far side, where we should have been brighter and smarter.

“We worked opportunities but didn’t put the ball into the box and when we did put it in the box it was in the wrong areas.

"We wanted more of a ruthless and clinical edge, which we got, and sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition and their staff in how they set up.

"I watched their game against Larne so we knew they weren’t going to roll over and let us have the points – we had to work for it.”