Rohan Ferguson has admitted that Larne must sharpen up as a defensive unit if they want to avoid further pain in the Uefa Conference League.
It’s matchday three on the big stage for the Invermen when they take on Swiss side St Gallen at Windsor Park on Thursday night.
The Premiership champions frustrated Molde before losing 3-0 in Norway but then came that humbling 4-1 loss to League of Ireland giants Shamrock Rovers in Belfast.
The Dubliners were slick and ruthless but they were aided by some lapses in concentration from Larne.
Stephen Bradley’s side were able to penetrate the Invermen with ease and stopper Ferguson accepts his side need to be more resilient and organised at the back.
The champions showed defensive solidity against Glentoran at the weekend but shutting out St Gallen is a very different proposition.
“From a players’ perspective it was a disappointing result against Rovers for everybody involved,” admitted the former Linfield goalkeeper.
“It was a game we felt we could get a result from with the games coming up.
“I think once they scored the early goal it gave them a lot of confidence and that is something we don’t usually do — concede early goals.
“In any game if you have a bad start it’s uphill from there, the goal changed our gameplan and we were chasing the game. But Rovers are a top side and you can see they are in a good position in the Conference League table.
“We would love to be in their position, but they have learned a lot from their qualifying campaigns.
“We are where they were many years ago and we have to do our learning.
“The higher the level you play at you are facing better quality players who can hurt you.
“I just think we didn’t give ourselves a chance in that game.
“We obviously did concede early but take nothing away from Rovers who are a top side.”
Tomas Cosgrove and Leroy Millar remain sidelined or the Invermen who knew their squad depth would be tested.
Rovers’ comfortable win led to many observers claiming that the Irish League is miles behind the League of Ireland.
But Larne are some way behind Rovers in their European adventure. The bigger challenge for Tiernan Lynch’s side is repeat visits to this stage and then producing stronger performances.
The balancing of domestic and European commitments is difficult, and some inconsistency is not surprising.
“I suppose it is new to us,” added Ferguson. “We spoke about it after the Molde game. We are in a privileged position so I don’t think me or anyone in the squad will complain about it.
“But it is different for us. It is game after game after game with short windows in between. You get less time to prepare when you have back-to-back games, but it has been good for us.
“This is the club’s first time in this position in Europe, we just need to take it game by game and learn.
“We haven’t got the answers yet but we have to keep learning and hopefully we get the answers as the games go on.”
An added challenge for Larne is playing their fixtures at Windsor Park rather than at Inver Park.
Around 1,600 St Gallen fans will be heard at the international stadium and it’s a venue that can often inspire visiting sides.
Larne have produced some memorable Irish League performances at Windsor Park but top European sides can cause them a bigger headache.
Larne boss Tiernan Lynch acknowledged: “If you were at Inver you’d be in a situation where you’d be able to go and press a bit more because it’s a smaller pitch.
“There’s probably also a bit more of an intimidation factor at Inver with it being your home pitch, your home supporters, a tighter ground, it would probably be noisier and all that goes with it.
“It is what it is. The boys will tell you they enjoy playing at Windsor and the occasion around Windsor. It’s just something we have to deal with.”