Tiernan Lynch: Larne created enough chances to win Dungannon Swifts game twice over and we didn't take them

The Inver Reds had a number of big opportunities against their County Tyrone opponents, but couldn’t find a decisive breakthrough in what was a fifth league draw of the season and second against Rodney McAree’s men following a 4-4 thriller in the opening weekend.

While Lynch’s side have only lost one league match in the current campaign – the same number as leaders Linfield and one fewer than both Cliftonville and Crusaders, who sit above them in the standings – they are now eight points adrift of the Blues after 12 games, despite beating them 2-0 at Inver Park last month.

Only Friday night’s opponents Dungannon have drawn as many matches as Larne to date with Lynch feeling they had more than enough chances to secure three points.

"It's a hugely frustrating result,” he told the club’s media channel. “As I said to the players in there, people are probably wanting me to be very critical of performances and I can't be.

"There's one area that we can be very critical of and nobody is more disappointed than them that we didn't take our chances.

"We created enough chances to win the game twice over and we didn't take them.

"We weren't clinical and got punished for it in the end.

"I can probably think of four very clear one-on-one chances that we could and should have done better with.

"You can always work a keeper more, have more shots and enter the box more, but I thought we did enough.

"If we had finished those it would be a very different conversation."

No one is more aware of the importance of turning those draws into victories than Lynch as he looks to guide his side to a successful Premiership title defence.

They should be able to welcome back last season’s Premiership Player of the Year Leroy Millar, star striker Andy Ryan and summer recruit Jaziel Orozco in the coming weeks as they aim to ascend the table.

"We have to start doing that (turning draws into wins) sooner rather than later,” he added. “They are frustrating and they aren't draws where we are hanging on but games you should be winning where you're maybe not clinical enough or taking your chances.

"It's frustrating, but they are a good bunch of boys, a good squad and work unbelievably hard.

"We just have to keep fighting through these wee situations."

Lynch also says he isn’t focusing on teams around them or the current gap to rivals Linfield, but rather solely concentrating on what his own side can control.

"I'm always one game at a time - always have been and always will be,” he said. “If we start worrying or taking other factors in then it'll start getting in the way of what we want to do and where we want to go.

"We have to take it one game at a time and build on that."