Declan Devine clear 'there's nobody fooling themselves' over work required at Glentoran
Declan Devine says his “eyes are fully open” at the amount of work that is required to turn Glentoran into an Irish League force once again after they “didn’t do enough” during their 2-0 BetMcLean Cup victory over Dergview.
Charlie Lindsay opened the scoring after nine minutes at The Oval against Premier Intermediate League opposition but it took until the dying seconds for Devine’s men to net their second – David Fisher ensuring progression into the last-16.
The Glens entered Tuesday’s cup fixture having only won one of their last five league matches while they’d failed to score in four of those – firing blanks against Dungannon Swifts, Ballymena United, Larne and Glenavon.
Only bottom side Carrick Rangers (seven) have scored fewer league goals this term than Glentoran (eight) ahead of Friday’s trip to Big Two rivals Linfield, who boast the Premiership’s best attacking return with 19 in nine games.
Devine was appointed permanent boss of the East Belfast outfit during the closing stages of last season after Warren Feeney’s departure and admits he’s well aware that there was no “flipping a switch” to immediately change their fortunes.
"We again didn't do enough,” he told the club’s media channel. “I want to make this clear: when I came in here I knew there was a lot of work that needed to be done.
"We let 18 or 19 players go out to press a reset button, we brought seven or eight players in and there's nobody fooling themselves here - I knew more than anybody there were going to be tough nights.
"Over the course of the last couple of games there have been tough games but it was never going to change in terms of flipping a switch from the end of last season to making everything rosy in the garden again.
"We want commitment, desire...we're getting a lot of that but we need to get better. We need to make sure over the next days and weeks that when times are difficult that we dig in.
"I know for a fact that a lot of players are giving a lot but we're short and we know that. There's a lot of work to be done, a lot of work, and it was evident...I spoke at the end of the season that when you lose 18 or 19 players that the reset button wasn't going to be the easiest.
"It's five clean sheets here at home since the start of the season which is positive but our approach play, attacking play and our ability to kill games off - we missed a chance from two yards out to go 2-0 up after 15 minutes in the second-half.
"Those are the fine margins of the game we have to make sure we're better at. Eyes are fully open on the work that has to be done here."
Former Rangers youngster Lindsay hasn’t started a league fixture since being replaced at half-time of August’s stalemate with Coleraine, only racking up 32 minutes in the Premiership from that moment, and Devine admits he needs to get fitter over the coming weeks.
"Charlie has to make sure he gets fitter,” he added. “He hasn't finished the game.
"He came on as a sub in the first game of the season, started the next two games and we have to get him fitter. There's no doubt he's a talented player but we have to get him fitter and finish 90 minutes.”