Not winning the League is a failure and there is a real drive in the Linfield changing room to reclaim the Gibson Cup, says midfielder Kyle McClean

David Healy's men lost custody of the League crown as Larne lifted the club's first ever top flight championship last season.

With the pain of not making it five successive titles in a row fresh on their minds, McClean is hoping that Linfield's strong start to the season will provide the framework to reclaim the title this time around.

He said: “Since I’ve been here, we’ve won the League every year except for last year.

“It’s obviously different and the end of last season wasn’t nice for anyone. We won the League Cup, but if you don’t win the League here it’s deemed a failure, which it should be because it’s the way it’s been for years.

“We have to use that to drive us on this year.

“It’s really important to get points on the board early. Every game is massive, no matter how early in the season it is.

“Last week (versus Carrick Rangers) was a big disappointment obviously, but after six League games if someone had said we’d have five wins and a draw, you’d have been over the moon, but we know we should have won last week.

“It was important to put it right against Coleraine and I thought we were worthy winners."

McClean put in a man of the match performance against the Bannsiders last weekend as he opened the scoring before winning a penalty which was duly converted by Chris Shields.

The former St Johnstone ace would have a say in the third goal too, as his defence splitting pass allowed Joel Cooper to set-up Chris McKee.

“We’ve worked on throw-ins this year and, although it was a bit of a lucky ricochet, I was surprised to have that much space but I’ll take it, because there are plenty of times when things don’t go your way," he added.

“I’m happy with how I’ve started the season, but I think there is plenty more to come. I think since my injury a couple of years ago, I haven’t had 15-20 games on the bounce but I’ve had 10 already this season.

“It’s a big thing for me to play every minute of every game and hopefully I can stay in the team and keep contributing goals and assists."

Linfield face holders Larne in the County Antrim Shield this evening before squaring off against the same opposition next up in the Sports Direct Premiership.

24-year-old McClean believes the double header will provide “a good indicator” of where the Blues are at.

"We played Cliftonville a couple of weeks ago and they had won every game up until then,” he continued.

"So it gives you a good indicator of where you're at when you play against the so-called better teams.

"It will be a good test for us on Tuesday night. Obviously we play them twice in a row and we're looking forward to it, as I say it will be a good challenge for us.”