Larne looked off the pace in Reds draw - Rooney

Matthew Rooney gives instructions to his Larne players in Sunday's game

Larne boss Nathan Rooney says his team were a "little tentative" as the Premiership champions drew 1-1 with Cliftonville in his first game in charge.

Ryan Nolan headed in an 88th-minute equaliser for the Inver Park hosts after Joe Gormley fired home to give the Reds a deserved first-half lead.

Larne were in action just three days after losing 1-0 in Slovenia to Olimpija in the Uefa Conference League.

"It was a difficult game - it looked like the week caught up with us a little bit," said Rooney.

"We looked five to 10 yards off it in some periods and we were a little tentative in our approach.

"The ball wasn't sticking so we need that little period to try to get that physical side back into the players."

Cliftonville dominated for most of Sunday's encounter although Larne upped the tempo late in the game and went close before levelling.

"We had to make changes in the last 15 minutes - we tried to keep a couple on as long as possible as we were under the cosh in the first half.

"Some of our younger boys came on, the ball stuck, we got ourselves in the box on four or five occasions and probably should have nicked it.

"I'm happy in terms of the last 15 minutes, the resilience we showed but we didn't create anything in the first half so I think we need to take that forward and build from that."