Irish League side chasing first point after eight straight defeats looking to turn 'moments' into more
Paddy McLaughlin is calling on Glenavon to turn “moments” into match rewards as the wait for a first win of the Irish League season will stretch into a ninth game.
McLaughlin’s first full campaign in the Mourneview Park hot-seat has opened in dismal fashion in terms of the Premiership standings.
However, the Lurgan Blues boss prepares to welcome Crusaders this weekend with a belief an upturn is on the horizon.
"We're playing sides now around that bottom six over the next couple of weeks so it's incredibly important we pick up points,” said McLaughlin. "Every fixture this year we've had moments...moments when we've been on top, moments where we've been a bit lapse and got punished.
"It's not a 'win or bust' game (v Crusaders)...it's an important game, like the next five or six fixtures - sides that will, maybe, be in or around the bottom six.
"So if that's the league we're going to be playing in this year it's important we do pick up points.
"All that's missing at the minute is we just need a break, that bit of luck, a result.
"Once that comes into play everything changes - it just breaks that run, all that criticism we're facing at the minute.
"We're mad-keen to get our first result, our first points.
"It could be the turning point.
"We're sticking to the belief that when we do get our break, when we do get our points on the board, our lucky break or anything to change the fortune we're going through at the minute, the whole season could be flipped on its head."
McLaughlin points to a difficult start on the fixture list against full-time sides.
"We knew how difficult the season was going to be before we started in terms of part-time and full-time,” he said. "We knew that was the challenge (as a part-time club) facing us.
"The boys are a really, really tight group and we all work extremely hard behind the scenes.
"I know supporters don't want to hear that, they want to see points on the board and us climbing the league.
"But I do believe that will come - over, hopefully, the next couple of weeks.
"It's almost a league split in half but over our next five or six fixtures are teams in or around ourselves, so big fixtures for us.
"We hate defeats.”