Healy left to rue missed chances in Shels draw

BBC News

6 days ago

Linfield boss David Healy said he was frustrated with his side's inability to "capitalise on key moments" as they suffered a 2-1 aggregate defeat by Shelbourne and exited the Champions League on Wednesday.The Blues trailed 1-0 from the first leg and had a further mountain to climb when Allistair Coote fired Shels ahead in the second leg at Windsor Park.Chris Shields scored a penalty before half-time to get Linfield back in the tie, but Ben Hall's sending off killed their hopes of a comeback in the second half.Healy was left to rue missed chances from the likes of Matthew Fitzpatrick and Callum Morrison when the game was still in the balance."I'm disappointed, I was proud of the players effort, I thought we were good in spells, but key moments and small details are why we lost the tie," he told BBC Sport."We had a big chance when it was 0-0, we had a big chance when it was 1-1 in the second half and those key moments we didn't capitalise on. "I don't think Shelbourne looked as threatening as the first leg. We built on the performance last week, but I said to the players you don't want to be the nearly team, I hate that and it's my initial frustration with where we are at because we put so much into the game."The Blues now drop into the Uefa Conference League and will face Lithuanian side Zalgris next week.The Shels draw was Healy's 500th game in charge of Linfield and despite his frustration with the outcome, he said the achievement "means a lot"."I watched my first interview back recently when I first got the job and I was glowing with pride at the opportunity. It was not one I craved at the time, but hopefully I have grown into it," he added."You're not just the manager at Linfield, you're the face of the football club but I love the challenge here and I think I've become a better manager and person."