Linfield took a giant leap towards reclaiming the Gibson Cup with a victory over 10-man Larne, extending their lead at the top of the table. Despite the impressive advantage, manager David Healy remains focused on the next match against Loughgall, emphasizing the importance of one game at a time.
Linfield manager David Healy is dismissing any talk that this season's title race is over, despite his team taking a commanding lead. The Blues took a significant step towards reclaiming the Gibson Cup with a victory over 10-man Larne on Tuesday night. Kieran Offord netted his first goal for the club since joining in January, capitalizing on Andy Ryan's dismissal to secure three crucial points at Windsor Park.
This result leaves Linfield 20 points ahead of Glentoran, the closest challengers, and 25 points clear of Larne, although both teams have games in hand.Despite their dominant position at the top of the table, Healy insists his focus remains firmly on their next fixture, a home game against bottom club Loughgall this Saturday. When asked about the external chatter suggesting this season's title race was already decided, Healy told Linfield TV: 'Straight away after the game, we talked about moving on quickly and that's what we've done. I congratulated the players on an important three points tonight, but again this Saturday becomes huge for us. Loughgall are coming and fighting for their lives. Their last game was against Glentoran when they were done in the last minute with the penalty. I have gone on record before on my appreciation for Loughgall and Dean Smith. But it is one game at a time for us. I know it's an old cliche and people don't like it. We never get too far ahead of ourselves, and I don't get too far ahead in terms of my own responsibilities, because you never know when your next day will be your last.' Healy termed Tuesday's victory over Larne as an 'important victory', emphasizing that results are paramount 'at this stage of the season'. He added: 'It was an important victory. When we're at this stage of the season it is about winning. I thought our performance was okay. It was difficult playing against the 10 men and we needed more patience. You could sense in the second half we were a little bit too eager, as were the fans. We bided our time without creating too much in the 90 minutes. But the one big moment we had, Kieran was alive to score. He has scored a lot of goals in and around the goalkeeper and sniffing out mistakes. The first goal was key tonight. I don't think Larne troubled us, which was probably down to the extra man we had. We would have liked to have scored a second goal to make things more comfortable.'
Linfield David Healy Larne Gibson Cup Title Race Loughgall
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