Gary Haveron concedes Larne 'didn't do enough' as miserable Premiership run continues with Carrick Rangers defeat
Larne head coach Gary Haveron conceded his side “didn't do enough” during their dramatic 1-0 Premiership defeat to Carrick Rangers which extended a miserable recent run for the defending champions.
The Inver Reds have celebrated back-to-back Gibson Cup triumphs over the past two seasons but will be handing the title back to Linfield and sit a whopping 24 points behind David Healy’s Blues.
Tuesday’s defeat to rivals Carrick means Larne have now won only one of their last seven matches – a victory over bottom side Loughgall – and leaves them sitting in fifth as they chase European football for next season.
While Larne have developed a reputation for free-flowing football during a successful period which included creating Irish League history by qualifying for the Conference League, a lack of goals has been the key factor behind a downturn in form.
Haveron’s men have now failed to score in five of their last seven outings and while they netted three or more goals in 12 league matches last term, the tally for this season in that category stands at just three.
The Larne chief started three strikers in Tiarnan O’Connor, Paul O’Neill and Andy Ryan in an effort to correct the issue at Taylors Avenue, but it didn’t have the desired effect as Joe Crowe struck in injury time to end Carrick’s 11-game winless league run.
"We're honest enough as a group and in the dressing room we said exactly that - we didn't do enough to win this game,” Haveron told the club’s media channel. “We didn't create enough clear cut chances, didn't ask enough questions and we went too long too early.
"They put 11 men behind the ball and made it very frustrating for us. It was difficult with the pitch and everything else...it sounds like you're making excuses but that's just the reality.
"They put 11 men behind the ball who were very committed to holding on to what they had and we didn't do enough to break them down.
"We changed to a 4-3-3, went more attacking and had three strikers on the pitch from the very beginning.
"We want to play attractive football and get our fans excited, but they never got off their seats much tonight with anything that we did. It's disappointing from our perspective because we want to play that kind of football but we didn't have it and came up short."