Irish Premiership: Linfield manager Healy ‘disappointed not to capitalise’ on Larne loss

Linfield manager David Healy says he was disappointed that his side did not capitalise on Larne’s 1-0 defeat by Crusaders as they drew 0-0 with Glentoran in Saturday’s Belfast derby.

The Oval stalemate sees Linfield trail by one point with four matches left.

“There are always going to be twists and turns,” reflected Healy.

“We knew the situation coming into our game so we were disappointed not to capitalise but I can’t fault the players. We are still in there fighting and battling.”

After an uneventful first half, both sides had opportunities to secure victory in a more enterprising second period, but neither was able to break the deadlock.

“Overall the game wasn’t very good, the pitch wasn’t very good and the conditions weren’t conducive to playing good football,” the Linfield boss told BBC Sport NI.

“That limited both us and Glentoran but I thought we did enough towards the end of the game and we had the best chances. We didn’t capitalise on that and looked a wee bit shy in front of goal.”

‘Energy and legs caught up with us’

Larne’s reverse at the hands of Stephen Baxter’s side represented their first home defeat since November 2022 and ended their 24-match unbeaten run in the top flight, substitute Stewart Nixon’s late goal proving the difference between the sides.

“We are very disappointed after such a high on Tuesday night [beating Cliftonville 2-0 at Solitude]. The energy and the legs I think caught up with us in the end and we got punished,” Larne manager Tiernan L:ynch told BBC Sport NI.

“It’s one of those things and we have to roll up our sleeves and go again and try to put it right.

“It’s hard to be critical of the players as it’s our third massive game in a week. Physically and emotionally we just fell short.

“We have four massive matches to go so we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”

The race for the league title continues next weekend as Linfield travel to Seaview to face Crusaders on Friday night and Larne host Cliftonville on Saturday at 17:30 BST in a game which will be streamed live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.