Institute boss Sean Connor admits clinical Glenavon deserved victory

The 'Stute boss felt his side weren't at it in the first half, but conceded that the Lurgan Blues were clinical in the opening 45 minutes.

"I was disappointed with the first half but was much happier with the second half performance," he insisted.

"I thought they were very clinical, but I thought we should have been a goal up and then that changes the whole complexity of the game, but overall they deserved to win.

"But it wasn't the level of performance that we have had over the last few weeks."

Stephen Murray's first goal was a little fortunate as the striker looked to have pushed 'Stute defender Dean Curry, but referee Lee Tavinder didn't feel their was a foul committed in the build to the opening goal.

"The referee said there wasn't any push and that Dean was off balance, but I don't know," he added.

"I just felt he was pushed and I think the referee could easily have given a free, but not only should we have scored, their goal game from us again on the attack on the edge of their box.

"As I said they were clinical, we were just sloppy in the first half and we performed much better in the second half."

Despite playing better after the break, Connor held his hands up and admitted that the game was virtually over after Glenavon's blistering first half display.

"Yeah conceding two goals so earlier didn't help us. Away from home, we needed to test their confidence, because they are off the back of a bad run, OK I know they beat Linfield, but that was just one game, so I still felt that they might have had some doubt in their minds if we could have scored earlier or kept ourselves in the game.

"We need to be in game's at half-time to give ourselves a chance and that wasn't the case tonight, we lifted them and I think we got a shift out of them in the second half.

"However I said before the game they are in a false position and the first 45 minutes was probably the best they played for a long while."

Connor also felt that Glenavon having an extra few hours recovery time, having played the Blues on Friday night, may also have played a part in the outcome of the game.

"That's something we as a coaching staff were discussing in the changing room," he added. "They had an extra 24 hours and on top of that we had the journey down here, so it has got to have had some sort of impact on part-time players."