Larne manager Tiernan Lynch says his side “missed that killer instinct in the final third” during their 1-0 defeat to Ballymena United at Inver Park.
Ben Kennedy scored the only goal of the game in the final five minutes to secure back-to-back victories for Ballymena.
Larne have picked up one point from their first two league fixtures and trail leaders Linfield by 12 points with three games in hand after just beginning their top flight campaign against Coleraine last week.
The defending league champions are playing catch up after their opening games were postponed due to their European exploits.
“Hugely disappointing afternoon, hugely frustrating afternoon,” Lynch admitted to BBC Sport NI.
“Probably lots of things in there that we didn’t do well enough. We had a poor first half performance which is very unlike us and then to get caught with a sucker punch.
“We definitely lacked that [spark] today. I thought we were very dominant as far as possession and all that goes with it, but we missed that killer instinct in the final third and we didn’t show enough to kill the game off.”
Larne will face Linfield in their next league encounter next weekend.
“Last Sunday was hugely disappointing and this one was even more disappointing.
“We have to dust ourselves off and maybe stop feeling sorry for ourselves and gloating on other things and get back to business and we need to do that very quickly,” warned Lynch.