Players should see it as a challenge to bounce back from successive cup eliminations, says Ballymena United assistant manager Stefan Seaton after BetMcLean quarter-final loss to Glentoran

After being eliminated from the Irish Cup on Saturday following a home defeat to Ards, the Sky Blues were then dumped out of the BetMcLean Cup on Tuesday night by Glentoran as second half goals from Jordan Jenkins and David Fisher proved to be the difference.

The quarter-final tie was due to be played at the Ballymena Showgrounds but successive postponements at the venue meant it was switched to The Oval.

Ballymena were happy to contain their hosts for large spells but ultimately came undone when Jenkins' smart finish broke the deadlock with 69 minutes on the clock.

The men from east Belfast ensured they made it nine matches unbeaten in all competitions with five minutes to go when Fisher latched onto Daithi McCallion's mistake to dispatch beyond Sean O'Neill.

"I don't see it as difficult - they should all see it as a challenge," Seaton answered when asked if it's going to be tough to lift the players' morale.

"They've got to pick themselves up as do we. I'll go home and kick the cat and do what I need to do but come midnight, I'll probably watch the match again.

"I'll pick the bones out of it and be ready to go straight away.

"We've got to be thinking about going again and we'll be back in on Thursday night to come up with solutions to have a right go at Glentoran again.

"We had a game plan to keep things quite tight which was going really, really well but if you just make that one mistake or switch off for one second, then they are a team which can really hurt you.

"I think fitness levels came into play in the last 10 or 15 minutes because we had a couple of lads who were struggling to get over flus and niggles and things."

Glentoran’s win keeps up their strong performance in the cup competitions as they are also in the final of the County Antrim Shield, as well as in the sixth round of the Irish Cup.

Their league form has also improved as they currently sit second in the Premiership standings and assistant manager Tim McCann says it is important they “keep building” on their progress to date.

"Declan (Devine) said at the start of the season that we want to try and win every competition that we enter,” he added.

"I think it's a mentality that you've got to try and win every single game that you're playing.

"You're not going to win every game but that's got to be the mentality.

"The longer you keep this unbeaten run going the better. We're in the semi-final of one competition and in the final of another.

"We are also in the next round of the Irish Cup and second in the league, so we've got to keep going and building on it.

"The next game is Ballymena on Saturday and we've got to go there and try and get three points.”