Mullen rues missed opportunities against Glentoran
Newry City boss Darren Mullen was left to rue ‘missed opportunities’ after his side fell to a 3-1 Danske Bank Premiership defeat against Glentoran on Saturday afternoon.
The Showgrounds outfit went into the interval trailing 2-0 after goals from Niall McGinn and Jay Donnelly, but came exploding out of the blocks in the second half.
Winger James Teelan netted three minutes after the break and when Glentoran defender Patrick McClean was sent off for bringing down John McGovern shortly after, Mullen would have been looking to turn that advantage into points.
That became a further uphill battle when Donnelly netted his second of the afternoon to make it 3-1 and it was left to be a case of what could have been for Newry.
"It was a missed opportunity,” reflected Mullen. “When you get back into the game and they go down to 10 men, we could have managed it better.
"It's fine margins in this league and it's frustrating. I said at half-time to keep it simple and tidy it up because we were creating opportunities and overloads, and just didn't take advantage of them.
"If we had have managed the game better, the longer it goes on you have that opportunity to go and try and get an equaliser or maybe push on and win the game, but we didn't give ourselves that opportunity."
20-year-old Teelan, who rose to his manager’s half-time challenge, will undoubtedly be a key player as Newry try to turn their form around.
"James is one of those lads that has been playing well but just hasn't been putting the final touches to it,” added Mullen.
"I was brutally honest with the front three at half-time telling them they are there to score or create and we're not doing it at the minute. They took that on the chin and came out and played well.
"It's just a matter of keeping it going because it can be very difficult in a battle like we're in at the minute.
“We're not losing focus or heart - we've a good changing room who are disappointed we got beat but they'll be ready for Tuesday night."