Gary Haveron feels 'clear foul' led to Dungannon Swifts opener on 'extremely frustrating' afternoon

The hosts took the lead through Tiernan Kelly, who poked home from close range following a corner, but Haveron felt there was a “clear foul” on Dan Bent in the build-up.

It went from bad to worse for Larne as moments later Dungannon doubled their advantage when Kealan Dillon struck after the Inver Reds lost possession in a dangerous area.

Here’s what Haveron had to say after the match:

FRUSTRATING AFTERNOON?

"Yeah, extremely frustrating.

"The conditions weren't great but we never helped ourselves at all. We put ourselves under pressure from the get-go by overplaying in the wrong areas.

"We were second best in the first half and we gave them the advantage, then they had something to defend and hold on to.

"As much as we huffed and we puffed, we didn't really do enough to get back into the game.”

DISAPPOINTING THAT THE SECOND GOAL COMES SO QUICKLY AFTER FIRST?

"Well, the first goal, the boys were telling me it's a clear foul on Dan Bent.

"Dan Bent goes up to win the ball and he gets pulled back, he's laying in a heap on the floor, so whenever you don't get a decision like that.

"I need to see it back, but I'm going off what the analyst has seen. He said he's clearly been pulled back and it's a clear and obvious foul.

"Then you don't get the penalty decision up the other end, but we compounded our mistake with another one. We gift-wrapped the game for them, letting them go 2-0 up so early in the game.

"We emptied the bench, we tried to have a go, and even when we did get the chance to get back into the game, Mark Randall comes on to hit the ball and one of our own players gets in his way.

"It looked like an easy enough chance to score...it probably summed up the performance.”

DID YOU SEE MATTY LUSTY’S INCIDENT WITH DECLAN DUNNE AS A FOUL? NO BOOKING FOR A DIVE EITHER?

"It was one or the other, either it was a penalty or it was a booking, but it was one or the other.

"Matty felt there was contact there. Again, I'm more worried about the one that we conceded from a clear foul that he hasn't seen.”

WAKE UP CALL TO HOW COMPETITIVE LEAGUE IS GOING TO BE THIS SEASON?

"It's one performance since way back in the start of the season.

"We've been very, very good since we started back, going back to the performances we had in Europe as well.

"We've only conceded two goals from August – if you concede two from August, you're not a bad side.

"It was a poor first half performance and we put ourselves under pressure.

"Coleraine lost today against Bangor, it shows you what a competitive league it is. Anybody can beat anybody. Dungannon have won their last couple of games, they're starting to pick up a bit of form after having a slow start to the season. They're a very good side.

"We didn't underestimate them in any way coming down here. Conditions were tricky to play in, there's no two ways about it, but they defended much better than we did.

"They dealt with things much better than we did and were hungrier to keep a clean sheet more than we were – that's the biggest disappointment.”