Larne boss Nathan Rooney quietly confident of Euro progression despite scoreless draw with Auda
Both sides wasted chances to take a slender lead to Riga for the rematch on Wednesday.
Rohan Ferguson and Roberts Ozols made crucial saves in an entertaining contest despite the lack of finishing prowess in the scoreless stalemate.
"I saw a few levels to our game," said Rooney, who was making his managerial bow for Larne in Europe.
"We had five or six chances where we could have done better. The boys did well but we didn't play with huge belief we could turn them over.
"Physically we were excellent, they are a bit sharper in terms of games played but I didn't think that was evident tonight. I just think with more belief we can perform better next week.
"If we were starting off at the same level it might have been a different story. You can see they have kept their squad together for a long period.
"That is ingrained in them. There wasn't many clear-cut chances, Rohan pulled off a great save and there were too many set plays in the game.
"We gave up too many fouls which allowed them to slow the game.
"I'm happy with the outcome but we must go one step further."
The first qualifying round tie remains on a knife edge but Larne know this side, who conquered Cliftonville last year, are beatable.
"We will look at the game back and I want to be consistent with this team, not changing too much," said Rooney.
"I felt we were solid and have a lot of good attacking players.
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