Linfield's David Healy left 'burning with annoyance, frustration and anger'

The Blues lost for the fourth time in the current Danske Bank Premiership campaign, leaving their title defence hanging by a thread even at this early stage.

Make no mistake about it, Tiernan Lynch’s table-topping Larne were full value for the 4-2 victory – the result suggesting the east Antrim boys are serious contenders for the Gibson Cup.

They got off to the best possible start with Ben Doherty – from the spot – and Paul O’Neill scoring in the opening seven minutes. Although Cammy Palmer reduced the deficit before the break, Larne again put their foot on the gas after the restart with Lee Bonis and Leroy Millar each netting.

Ethan Devine did reduce the deficit with a free-kick, but by that stage, the Linfield side of the ground had already emptied.

“Yes, the gap (in the table) is widening, which is hugely disappointing considering how early we are in the season,” said Linfield boss Healy. “If we keep falling behind, there are going to be serious consequences come the end of the season.

“The consequences are not for here and now in terms of trophies and whatever else so, I need to act now, there needs to be some sort of freshening up in and around the 11 who will start next week.

“I’m burning with annoyance, frustration and anger and I’ve told the players that...I always hold up my hands, as manager it’s my fault performances and results and I take responsibility...performances are not what they should be.

“It doesn’t mean that the players are blameless...I’ve never had any reason to criticise individuals, but the players know they are short at the minute.

“The quality, effort and whatever else we’ve needed just hasn’t been there over the last number of weeks...again, that’s everyone included.

“We now need to regroup and refocus – and regain some sort of trust in everyone.

“The players know they are under-performing and it’s getting to the stage it’s getting out of hand...we need to get our act together.”

Larne boss Tiernan Lynch was thrilled with his team’s display but insisted "no one in the team will becoming carried away”.

“We’ll have no problem keeping the boys grounded, nothing will change,” said Lynch. “For us, it’s three points and we move on...Linfield know all about that, because they have been doing it for years, three points, three points, three points.

“I don’t think anyone could argue with my team’s work ethic.

"There has been a lot of talk about Linfield being fragile after recent performances and where their season is going, I think that is all nonsense.

“We are sitting top so the media will start talking, making statements and writing their own headlines...we’ll do our analysis on the game, and it will be parked, then we will concentrate on Glentoran, who are next up.”

The Blues have now conceded nine goals in their last three home games, which Healy admits is a concern.

“When you are going through the run we are on, sometimes, you make the biggest errors at the worst possible time,” said Healy. “We discussed the challenges of Larne and their two forward players, (Lee) Bonis and (Paul) O’Neill but we didn’t deal with them and we got done for the second goal.

“When we did get ourselves back into it, we couldn’t sustain our momentum.

"We gave away two poor goals in the second half...we are giving away soft goals, that’s nine in three games, so that’s a concern.

“We are letting teams off the hook too easy, it’s perhaps down to belief and lack of confidence.”

LINFIELD: Johns, Roscoe, Shields, Callacher, Millar (Devine, 67), McClean (A. Clarke, 67), Cooper, M.Clarke, Finlayson, Vertainen (Mulgrew, 67), Palmer.

Subs (not used): Walsh, McDaid, McKee, Pepper.

LARNE: Ferguson, Want (Scott, 79), Sule, Randall (Hutchinson, 90), O’Neill, Bonis, Doherty, Donnelly (Hughes, 20), Bolger, Millar, Cosgrove.

Subs (not used): McIntyre, Kelly, Kearns, Sloan.

REFEREE: Ian NcNabb.​​​​​​​