Paddy McLaughlin 'not hiding behind excuses' and promises 'there's more to come' from his Glenavon squad
Paddy McLaughlin has promised “there’s a lot more to come” from his Glenavon side after they began their Premiership campaign with a 2-0 home defeat to Ballymena United.
Lurgan Blues boss McLaughlin handed eight players their club debuts across Saturday afternoon – five starters and three substitutes.
Donal Rocks’ brace, which included a spectacular long-range effort in the second half, ensured Jim Ervin’s side left Mourneview Park with three points.
Here’s what McLaughlin had to say in his post-match interview:
THOUGHTS ON THAT?
"It’s there for all to see, it was a frustrating, disappointing performance.
"We are a lot better than we showed. With the breeze blowing in our faces in the first half it was difficult to get out...sometimes you have to bypass and get after it, it’s the Irish League we’re playing.
"I said that to the players – you won’t always get your own way or get to do what you want to, you have to think of ways around it and think of Plan B quicker.
"Ballymena did that and in the first half kept us in, got their goal and defended well in the second half. The second strike, there’s nothing you can do about that – it’s a wonder strike from 35 or 40 yards. The game was over.
"We have to learn, just like Ballymena did today, there might be times where you can’t play beautiful football and have to play like Ballymena did, typical Irish League, hardworking and honest.
"If we can add that to our game we will be a lot better for it. I just thought we lacked that bit of intensity, hard work and the right decision at the right time.
"We are young, we are new, it has been a complete overhaul of the squad, but fans don’t want to hear that – they want results and performances, which is two things we have to improve on.”
STARTED WELL IN SECOND HALF BUT DRIFTED AWAY AFTER SECOND GOAL?
"That was the big disappointment.
"As much as the result and performance was, the fact our heads went down after the second goal – there was still a long time to go and anything can happen in the blink of an eye in football.
"That was disappointing to see the heads going down so soon. We have to learn from it and we will. It’s a good test of character and mental strength because you know the way football works – criticism will be coming our way this week but next week we can put that right.”
WILL IT TAKE SOME TIME FOR NEW GROUP TO GEL?
"Yeah it will, but that’s our job to do it. We’ve had a couple of weeks of pre-season, we haven’t had everyone available and we’re nursing some knocks, but we’re not hiding behind excuses.
"It’s a new group, a young group, but we have to learn quickly and develop because nobody is going to wait for us – it’s an uncompromising league and nobody is going to give us a hand up, they’ll run over the top of you.
"It’s important we learn quickly and develop quicker than we are. There’s a lot of debuts there but when they find their feet it’ll be exciting because there’s a lot of quality there.
"We haven’t got a four or five week bedding in period. It should have been from today, but hopefully from next week we’ll be up and running.”
STEPHEN MALLON SHOWED SOME BRIGHT SPARKS?
“Yeah, there’s a lot of bright sparks and talent in our changing room.
"Today didn’t show any reflection of what they are about really, they are a lot better as a group and individuals. Barney McKeown and Kyle McClelland are maybe the two coming away, they couldn’t do much more than they did do.
"There’s a lot more to come from all the players. We’ll take our medicine but there’s another 37 games to go with a lot of ups and downs along the way.”