Irish Premiership: ‘We weren’t given a stonewall penalty’ – Ervin

Ervin was pleased with the start that his side made to the game, but expressed his disappointment with their performance after that, particularly in the goal they conceded, as Michael Harris carried the ball a long distance before Jamie Dunne teed up Lafferty.

“It was very cagey, both teams were very nervy,” he admitted.

“The first 20 minutes we put them under pressure and then after that they grew into it.

“It was a decent first half and you were hoping for a bit more in the second half, but our boys didn’t come out of the blocks, and they scored a fantastic goal.”

Ervin continued: “There is disappointment on our end, the guy has run the length of the pitch, and no one has taken one for the team and taken him out of the game.”

Despite the defeat, Ervin is confident that his side can turn the result around and maintain their Premiership status by winning the second leg at home.

“It is half-time, we’re at home on Friday and we go again in front of a big crowd. It is up to us to come out and try get something from it.

“We need to be clinical, we didn’t test the goalkeeper on many occasions, so we have a massive 90 minutes ahead of us.”