12th man spurred us on

COLERAINE defender Aaron Traynor believes the Bannsiders were ‘a little bit reckless’ in a 20 minute spell during last night’s 2-2 draw against Glentoran at The Oval…

The visitors would have the half-time lead through Conor McKendry’s fourth goal of the season but Mick McDermott’s side were much improved after the break with Jay Donnelly hitting twice within a 14 minute spell.

After registering six clean sheets in their last seven games heading into the contest, Traynor remarked that the manner of the two goals they conceded meant it was a “frustrating” evening in east Belfast.

“It was a tough game, end to end at times and probably bit reckless from our behalf as we went through a rough patch and they scored twice,” he said.

“I think we showed good patches in the first 30 and the last 30 and we looked dangerous, but when you weigh it all up, a draw was a fair result.

“At 2-1, you would have taken a draw.

“I think the goals we conceded are the most frustrating aspect for us.

“Giving away penalties isn’t ideal, especially at 1-1 as you could see it gave them a lift and we looked flat for a couple of minutes.

“However, thankfully Lyndon popped up with a moment of brilliance and it was a good finish by Cathair to get us back in the game.

“We huffed and puffed at the end to try and nick all three points.”

Traynor was full of praise for the travelling support who continued to spur the team on during all stages of the game and insists the players thrive off the atmosphere.

“Please keep turning out,” he pleaded.

“You could see when we did go 2-1 down, we sort of needed someone to galvanise us and you could hear them getting noisier by the minute.

“They loved that equaliser by the looks of it and you could hear the atmosphere picking up.

“We love them, they are our 12^th man and we are looking forward to the home game next week and hopefully they come out in their numbers.”

Warrenpoint Town are the next challenge for Oran Kearney’s men and Traynor emphasised that getting the first goal of the game could prove to be a major factor.

“All the teams are hard to break down,” he continued.

“They will come up here with a game plan, like we will have ours.

“I hope we can get the first goal and defend a bit better when we are in front.

“I think it’s important we are clinical uptop as well.”