Larne boss Tiernan Lynch insists it is premature to write an obituary for the Inver Park club’s title hopes this season.
Saturday’s shock 1-0 defeat to Dungannon Swifts saw the East Antrim men tumble to fifth in the table and 11 points behind leaders Linfield.
They have also slipped to 12/1 with bookmakers to win the Gibson Cup with table-topping Linfield favourites at even money with William Hill.
But with 16 Premiership games still to play, Lynch has told his players they still have plenty to aim for in the second half of the campaign.
“You can look at it and say that’s us out of it, but ‘write us off at your peril’ is what we need to say,” he said.
“We still have to play Linfield twice, we still have to play Glentoran and Crusaders and Cliftonville come here on Friday night, so there are a lot of big games still to play.
“I still think there’ll be plenty of twists and turns before the end of the season.”
While Lynch was putting a brave face on things on Saturday evening, he is acutely aware that league title success is rarely carved from home defeats to bottom-four clubs.
Prior to Saturday’s trip to Inver Park, Dungannon had taken zero points from their previous 15 games against top-eight opposition this season.
“With all due respect to Dungannon, these are the games we need to be winning if we are serious about challenging for league titles,” said Lynch.
“Whenever you drop points and they are points you should never be dropping at home, there is always a frustration there.
“With all the respect in the world, we drew at Portadown, we lost at Ballymena and we have lost to Dungannon, so that’s seven points dropped against current bottom six clubs.
“Those dropped points would have us a lot closer to the top of the table and that’s the part we need to get right moving forward.”
Dungannon’s winner was a self-inflicted wound, Larne’s defence coughing up the ball in the penalty area after trying to play out from the back.
Rhyss Campbell stole the ball from Albert Watson and squared for Ryan Mayse to rifle home his seventh goal of the season from close range.
“It was a stupid goal to give away and it put us on the back foot,” said Lynch.
“People thought Larne just had to turn up today and win but there’s no such thing. We conceded early and we got jumpy and the crowd probably got on us a little bit
“We forced things and didn’t have any rhythm. First-half it was lacklustre and while we showed a bit more bite in the second but couldn’t get the goal we needed.”
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