Paddy McCourt pinpoints area Glentoran 'need to address first' to pick up Premiership points
Glentoran assistant manager Paddy McCourt insists his side “need to address” their defensive issues as they look to bounce back from a disappointing start to the Premiership season.
The Glens suffered a third loss across their opening five matches on Friday night following a 2-1 defeat to reigning champions Larne.
Sean Graham was able to march through a space in Glentoran’s defence to slot home an opener before Matty Lusty doubled Larne’s advantage after catching Ethan Schilte-Brown in possession – the striker fired past Billy Crellin having latched onto Paul O’Neill’s through ball.
All three of Glentoran’s losses have came courtesy of a 2-1 scoreline – they netted in injury time against Linfield and Aaron McEneff’s penalty in the 88th minute offered a late lifeline at Inver Park.
Despite a stuttering start, McCourt remains confident Glentoran can turn the tide – with defensive improvements top priority.
"Of course (we can turn it around),” said McCourt, who was in charge with Declan Devine missing the game due to illness. "Firstly, we need to stop giving away poor goals.
"We're giving away really poor goals at the minute which is really disappointing.
"It's no individual in particular, it's as a unit, as a team, we're conceding poor goals.
"We need to address that first and foremost and then try and get some players back in the next few weeks and start picking up results.
"You come here and you play against good players, anybody in that front four or front six can hurt you.
"But the way we gifted them the goals was really disappointing. If someone turns and scores a worldie from 25 yards or (Matt) Ridley and (Dan) Bent are a real threat from set pieces, they can hurt you that way too.
"But to gift them two real soft goals was really disappointing.”
Glentoran are missing several key players through injury – last season’s top goalscorer Pat Hoban has been absent for their past four matches after netting in an opening day win over Limavady United.
Summer signing Zeno Ibsen Rossi has also missed consecutive defeats to Crusaders and Larne, and McCourt has highlighted the importance of getting top talent back available.
"Jack Malone is carrying a niggle, Pat's hopefully not too far away, Zeno Rossi, Greg Sloggett, Jarlath O'Rourke, all big players,” he added. "It's been tough.
"It's not an excuse, you build a squad and players get a chance but when you have so many of your big players missing at once, it has hurt us and we've suffered.
"So, the sooner we get them back, the better.
“We went 4-4-2, matched them up with probably 15 minutes to go.
"Ross Clarke's struggling with an injury and to be fair he put himself forward but we could never use him for more than 15-20 minutes.
"So, we had a bit of a go and got the penalty, just couldn't really build on that momentum for the last three or four minutes.
"In fairness to Larne, they stopped the game a wee bit with a couple of throw-ins and a couple of fouls.
"We couldn't really get up into their final third to try and create that chance to try and get a point, so, disappointing in that respect too.”