Loughgall boss Dean Smith said that his side needed to “defend better” as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against Crusaders at Seaview.
Philip Lowry opened the scoring for the Crues, with Harry Franklin and Jordan Stewart adding further goals.
Robbie Norton pulled a goal back for Loughgall, but Smith conceded that he was disappointed with his side’s output in both boxes.
“It was a game of fine margins, we have a few opportunities at 0-0, Tuffey makes some good saves, but we need to score when we get in the six-yard box because we get punished,” he told BBC Sport NI.
“They score with their first shot on target, the marking was poor, Philip Lowry is free and does what he does and then the second goal, from our point of view is very sloppy to give away, especially at a poor time before half-time and it’s a mountain to climb at 2-0.”
Smith was particularly disappointed with the defending for the second goal on the stroke of half-time.
“It’s a goal we can avoid, we can defend a bit better but it’s a learning curve for our players that they have to defend better. We were a bit disappointed with our overall performance,” he added.
“I think the second half is a bit of a non-event, Crusaders do well to score a third, we go up the other end and score, but it is probably too little too late.”