Blues boss disappointed they didn't win the game

Linfield manager David Healy admitted there was a 'tinge of disappointment' that they didn't leave with all three points following Tuesday's pulsating 2-2 draw with Coleraine at the Showgrounds.

The visitors led 2-0 at the break and looked well placed to go on and claim just a second away win of the campaign.

However, a spirited comeback after half-time from the home side saw them cancel out Linfield's advantage - and almost win the game late on.

"We're disappointed we didn't find a momentum in the second half," conceded Healy.

"We gave away too many cheap balls and, again, part of that was probably down to the fact we lost Kirk Millar early in the second half.

"We lost a little bit of experience, a bit of know-how, and we're already missing Chris Shields and Jamie Mulgrew – people like that, that sort of control the tempo of the game.

"We didn't do that, we lost control of the game and we lost control of where we were.

"I know we scored a couple of set plays, I'm sure Ruaidhri will be equally disappointed at conceding from set plays, but when you score from a couple of set plays it's important that you keep the back door shut. 

"I thought our first half performance was very good but they changed their shape. We spoke to the players at half-time as we knew that might happen.

"When you're the home team and you're down 2-0, it's easy to have a go and we knew that they would come us a little bit more which they did.

"So there's a tinge of disappointment that we haven't found a way to win the game," he added.

Sam Roscoe passed up a brilliant chance to give Linfield what would surely have been an unassailable 3-0 advantage just before the break, a fact not lost on the Blues boss.

"It should have been 3-0 at half-time - we missed an incredible opportunity," he said.

"We don't normally talk about missed opportunities but we talk about big moments in the dressing room and that was a big moment and an opportunity.

"Coleraine have many talented players, Ruaidhri has them well coached, so, we knew that they were gonna come at us and we didn't manage to see it through."