Paddy McLaughlin's 'it's not fair to be critical of them' verdict as boss reflects on Glenavon start
Paddy McLaughlin may have finished his first week as Glenavon manager with two defeats in five days but will bank the lessons from live fixtures moving forward.
Confirmed last Sunday after the Lurgan Blues’ decision to call time on Stephen McDonnell’s time as boss, McLaughlin took charge of Tuesday’s Mid-Ulster Senior Cup loss to Dungannon Swifts, had a training session on Thursday then suffered a 1-0 derby setback at Shamrock Park on Saturday against Portadown.
The hectic schedule presented McLaughlin little time to put in place any significant long-term plans but he put his focus on the benefits of getting to watch his squad in the heat of the battle.
"You'd like a few sessions on the pitch, we didn't really have much of a session on Thursday with playing Tuesday night,” said McLaughlin following Saturday’s game against Portadown which was settled by an early Ahu Obhakhan finish for the hoss. "But we've got the two games out of the road, we move into a first full week to try and put your mark on things and get better organised than this week.
"Players love playing games and you can assess more in games.
"Training sessions don't really, at times, show you what the players can do on the pitch.
"Games are the best way of assessing things and that's all we'll be doing over the next couple of weeks - where did we go right, what do we need to improve on...
"It was a bit of a shock introduction but I'm very grateful to the fans, Glenn (Emerson) the chairman has been brilliant and the people around the club.
"They've provided me with everything I've asked for in the build-up to both games.”
McLaughlin had praise for his players’ display in the narrow loss to Portadown but accepted the need for improvement given Glenavon’s position four points clear of basement-based Loughgall.
"It was a good performance with nothing to show for it,” said McLaughlin. "We're not into moral victories but we're happy with how we played, happy with how we controlled large parts of it.
"But we probably could've done more in the final third.
"I feel as if up to a point we were well on top but just didn't create enough clearcut opportunities.
"Big Aaron McCarey has pulled off a couple of big saves in fairness but you'd expect that from a man of his quality.
"The goal disallowed at the end...very, very fine margins.
"You could've come away with a well-deserved point but it wasn't to be.
"The signs are there...we dominated a tough opponent at a tough ground and if we can do that more often and do that for longer periods right into the 90th minute then, hopefully, a bit of luck will go our way."
McLaughlin accepts it will prove a period of transition.
"The boys were excellent in the game for large periods but Portadown got their goal and defended their lead really well,” he said. "I think our build-up from the back was very good and a lot of our play around the middle of the park was excellent.
"I can't be expecting too much from the players over the first couple of days.
"It's not fair to be critical of them...they did everything I asked of them and the one thing that was probably lacking was in the final third, creating better goal-scoring chances.”