Skipper left ‘gutted’ by defeat

COLERAINE captain Stephen O’Donnell spoke to the club’s media channel after last night’s defeat to Larne…

The Bannsiders would leave Inver Park empty handed as Lee Bonis struck in both halves – either side of Mark Randall’s finish just before the half-time whistle.

O’Donnell labelled the result as “disappointing” and acknowledged that he and his team-mates are going to have to work hard to eradicate conceding soft goals.

“I think it’s definitely a disappointing night for us,” he told Coleraine TV.

“I think first and foremost we are disappointed with the goals we’ve conceded.

“I thought the first 20 to 25 minutes in particular, I thought we played quite well, I thought we were in the game, looked a threat, created chances and then unfortunately, we’ve given away two poor goals.

“For us, that’s something that’s unacceptable and the gaffer has been clear about that, the boys have been clear about that and it’s something that we need to work on and improve on to make sure this time in four weeks that’s not where we’re at, but we’re in a better place than that and those aren’t the goals we are giving away.

“The boys are gutted.

“There was a great crowd that made the trip up tonight and we do appreciate that and the boys appreciate all the support that the fans have given us all season and they’ve been right with us the whole way through.

“But for us, the boys are gutted in there and it’s really disappointing in terms of giving away a soft goal after playing so well and we probably had two or three chances ourselves to go in front.

“The fans all seen that and then the second goal sort of changes the dynamic of the game and it makes it that we have to go and chase a game and probably do stuff that we wouldn’t do at 1-0 down, or we wouldn’t do it at 0-0.

“I think for large parts of the second-half we were okay but we were probably too open and caught on the counter attack.

“The boys are gutted in there, it’s back to the drawing board and back to work on Tuesday night.”

The Stripes were without several key players for the fixture due to injuries and suspension but O’Donnell pin-pointed the performance of teenage full-back Lewis Tosh as a shining light on a difficult evening in east Antrim.

“We’ve come down here missing players, Lewis Tosh played left-wing back in only his second senior appearance and I thought he done really well against arguably one of the best full-backs in the league and against Ben Doherty who is one of the best wingers in the league,” he added.

“Fair play to him because he done well and there were other boys who were playing here and there and out of position, but that’s not an excuse and it’s not an excuse for the performance or an excuse for the goals, but it is what it is and we go back to the drawing board on Tuesday night to put it right.

“I think when the game is 0-0, or when you’re 1-0 down or 1-0 up, it’s a lot different to when you’re 2-0 down, so I think it’s a bit false when you’re two goals down in the sense that you have to go after them, put yourself on that half way line, go man for man at times to try and get yourself back in the game.

“We had a good shape about, especially in the first 20 minutes we had a good shape, we were comfortable, Larne didn’t create too many chances and then we have gave them a few goals.

“Again towards the last 15 or 20 minutes, it’s a bit end to end and nearly like a basketball match where we attack and they attack, but when they break in numbers and in quality, it’s definitely difficult to defend against and unfortunately for us we couldn’t make that breakthrough and we couldn’t hold out in the second-half.

“It’s a disappointing night but something we have to improve on.”

The Stripes next face Crusaders at home and O’Donnell knows hard graft is in order ahead of the Europa Conference League play-off fixtures.

“It’s never acceptable losing games of football, especially here at Coleraine,” he conceded.

“It’s not acceptable not being involved or not being where we want to be and I think for us we have to look at it in a positive light and try, maybe not this result, but the next couple of weeks as the gaffer has alluded to everything that we are working towards is these European play-offs.

“We’re going to bust our balls on Tuesday and Thursday and try and make sure we are ready for Saturday and get ourselves in a position that in four weeks time we are ready to rock.”