Danske Bank Premiership: Larne 2 Cliftonville 1
LARNE midfielder Leroy Millar is refusing to get carried away despite helping the Inver Park club to claim a victory over title rivals Cliftonville on Saturday.
Millar scored one and made another in the 2-1 victory for the home side, as the league’s top two went head-to-head.
It was a tough afternoon for Cliftonville, who had to play the final half hour with 10 men after Jamie McDonagh picked up a second yellow card for simulation.
They pulled one back late on through Johnny Addis, but Larne held on for an important victory, which moved them three points clear at the top of the Danske Bank Premiership.
Larne play their game in hand over the chasing pack when they travel to Millar’s former side Ballymena United tomorrow night, with the midfielder now turning his attentions to the Showgrounds.
“It’s still early days, the league isn’t won in February, so we’re not getting carried away with anything,” Millar said.
“We’ll dust ourselves down and get going again for Tuesday night.
“For me it’s just another game (facing his former club). It will be a tough game, on their day they can beat anyone which I know better than anyone.
“We have to be prepared for a tough game and hopefully we can go there and get a result.”
As for Saturday’s victory, Millar grabbed his third goal in his last two outings in the hard-fought victory, but he was keen to praise his team-mates instead.
“I thought the boys were superb,” he said.
“We were delighted with the two goals we scored and a bit frustrated with the one we conceded, because we pride ourselves on clean sheets, but that’s something we’ll work on this week.
“I thought we started the game very brightly but the other side of things is we need to be ruthless and take our chances when they come along.
“They were starting to come into it in the second half, so the second goal was important when it came along.
“We probably made hard work of it late on, but the boys at the back stood tall and really helped to see us through, as did the crowd who were a big help to us.”
Meanwhile Cliftonville assistant Declan O’Hara admits the North Belfast Reds needed a ‘rocket’ at half-time after a lacklustre first half.
They began the second half brightly, but a combination of McDonagh’s sending off and Larne’s second left them with a lot of work to do.
“The boys needed a rocket,” O’Hara admitted.
“Our boys normally react after a telling off and to be fair they did when we were trying to get back into it in the second half.
“Unfortunately, after the sending off Larne go up and score and it’s then a massive task for us.”
The big games keep on coming for Cliftonville, with Glentoran coming to Solitude on Saturday for another huge clash in the title race.
“We have to be ready for next week because Glentoran is going to be massive,” O’Hara added.
“It’s where we want to be though. There was a full house at Larne and there will be a full house on Saturday, so those are the games you want to be involved in.
“We’ll get back to work this week. We’ll assess things, we’ll watch the videos and all focus will be on Glentoran.
“There’s a long way to go. There’s 27 points to play for and we all know this league is crazy at the minute and anyone can win it.
“We’re delighted to be where we are, but we’re not finished yet. We want to go to the last day like we did last year.
“We’re here to push ourselves as much as we can, so we’re ready to go away.”
