Larne manager Tiernan Lynch believes his side will be better for the experience of their Uefa Conference League opener.
The back-to-back Irish Premiership champions, who were the first team from the league to ever play in this phase of a major European competition, were beaten 3-0 by Molde in Norway.
The County Antrim side were level until the 51st minute but conceded twice late on, either side of a red card for substitute Conor McKendry.
“We lacked a little belief in possession. We probably should have been a little braver,” said Lynch.
“That’ll stand by them. They now have the monkey off the back as the saying goes and I think they’ll be a wee bit more confident going into the next game.”
Lynch described the manner of the goals conceded as “very unlike” his side, with the second in particular avoidable after the ball was given away in the middle of the park.
The visitors did feel aggrieved, however, by the nature of Molde’s opener through their skipper, the impressive Magnus Wolff Eikrem.
“I’ve not seen it back but personally for the first goal, I felt like I won the ball, that I didn’t get anywhere near the man,” said defender Shaun Want of the free-kick that led to the goal.
“The referee pulls me over to speak to me and before I know it, the ball is played over the top. The referee didn’t let me get back in position.”
‘If you make mistakes, you get punished’
Lynch added that he felt his team were “superb” for the first portion of the game leading up to the first goal and believes the sting of defeat in such a fixture shows the progression the club has made from the second tier to the European stage in just five years.
“That speaks volumes for them as a team and a group of players and probably where the club has came from and the level of where the league is now,” he said.
“They were better than us. The goals that we conceded were a kick in the teeth but we’ll learn from that.
“I thought for long periods we did really well against a top side in Europe. At this level, if you make mistakes, you get punished.”