LARNE boss Tiernan Lynch has vowed his players will work harder than ever put their first taste of League Phase European football to go use in the weeks ahead.
The reigning Sports Direct Premiership Champions gave a good account of themselves, but went down 3-0 to Molde in Norway on Thursday evening.
Two goals in the final 12 minutes added gloss to the scoreline for the home side, but Lynch saw enough to give him encouragement ahead of five more continental clashes in the weeks to come.
“It was a good learning experience for us,” Lynch said.
“Molde are a top side, who have been in this position a million times before – it was our first time at this level.
“It’s about going away and seeing what we can learn from it and recognising the good things we did, and there were plenty of them.
“There were also things we needed to do better, so we’ll reflect and we’ll learn.
“The fact the players were so disappointed in the changing room afterwards spoke volumes of how far we have come.”
Molde broke the deadlock eight minutes into the second half, however boss Lynch wasn’t happy with a decision to award a free-kick against Shaun Want in the build-up in a night where Larne made history by coming the first Irish League to compete in the major Group Stages of European football.
“I don’t know if I’m just used to Irish League football, but that wasn’t a free-kick in my eyes,” he said.
“Shaun won the ball and he won it cleanly in my eyes. Then we were a little bit disappointed that the referee calls him out and doesn’t allow time for Shaun to get back in.
“If truth be told the goal probably knocked the stuffing out of us a bit. We had a gameplan to take it 15 minutes at a time and build on it from there.
“We felt the longer we stayed in the game, we would grow into it and be braver in possession.
“However, there are lots of positives and we will learn from it.”
Next up for Larne is Sunday’s Premiership encounter at home to Dungannon Swifts and Lynch is challenging his side to quickly put Thursday out of their system as they big to keep themselves in the title picture.
Lynch added: “It’s always a big challenge when we come off the back of a game like this, the build-up and razzmatazz and all goes with it.
“Good teams will drop points (after European nights), but great teams will take the defeat on the chin, move on and be focused straight away on what’s next.
“Hopefully we become one of those great teams who can be focused on the next task.”