Larne boss Tiernan Lynch has revealed the secret weapon he employed ahead of their crucial win away to Ballkani this week — an inspirational video prepared for his players.
Lynch sat his squad down in Kosovo ahead of the Conference League third qualifying round tie in Pristina and showed them some of the key defensive moments they produced en route to back-to-back Premiership titles.
It certainly had the desired effect as the Invermen stood tall against a side who had beaten them 7-1 on aggregate exactly a year ago.
Rohan Ferguson collected a clean sheet, while the icing on cake came in the form of Matty Lusty’s 89th minute winner, slotting in when Lee Bonis flicked on Levi Ives’ free-kick.
Larne’s recent success has been built on their defensive meanness and Lynch was pleased to see it come to the fore once more after a 7-0 defeat over two legs against RFS in the first round of the Champions League.
Larne manager Tiernan Lynch praised his side’s first leg effort
“We showed the players a video of situations that we’ve been in the last two seasons and which played a massive part in helping us to win two League titles,” Lynch revealed.
“We saw that in abundance on Thursday night. People throwing themselves in front of the ball and being brave and showing us that grit and hunger and determination.
“We came here last year and took a bit of pasting
“I know there was talk they were missing three, four or five of those players but we knew we were coming to face a good side.
“We had them watched and we knew they were really good team. This first leg was probably about survival and we had to probably had to change our principles a bit.
“It meant being a bit more dogged, going a little bit longer than we’d normally like to, but it was about getting a result.
“And I’m so proud of the players, the staff and everyone else to make sure we did that.”
Despite praising his entire squad, Lynch also had a special mention for Lee Bonis who led the line in a selfless fashion.
Bonis has been linked with a moved away from Inver Park this summer, with Dutch second tier side Den Hag thought to be leading the race for his signature and it sounds like he may not have too much longer left in a Larne shirt.
Lynch said: “He was definitely putting himself in the position where he was thanking the fans, his fellow players and the club for everything we’ve done for him and been a part of.”
Lynch must now prepare his players for the return leg at Inver Park, with a place in the Play-Off round up for grabs.
The Play-Offs are the final hurdle for a place in the lucrative new League phase of the Conference League.
The Inver boss is under no illusions that his side will need another huge performance against a side who have already won away from home in Europe twice in the summer already.
“We’ll go back now and reflect on the game,” he added.
“Coming into this one there was a lot of reflection done on the back of the RFS games, particularly the one away from home.
“We know next week is a different challenge, so we’ll work on that with a different gameplan and see where that takes us.”