Larne boss Tiernan Lynch says some of the recent flak and heightened scrutiny he and his players have come under made him more determined to end the season on a high.
Questions were asked of Lynch, who has been at the helm since 2017, and the Inver Reds when a title challenge failed to materialise in the second half of the campaign.
Being dumped out of the Irish Cup in a penalty shootout by eventual finalists Ballymena United at the quarter-final stage in March also cranked up the pressure.
Read more: Glentoran boss Mick McDermott reads riot act after "inexcusable" European play-off collapse
But Larne, who lifted the County Antrim Shield in January, signed off on a high when they secured European football with a 4-2 play-off win over Glentoran on Friday night.
“Some of the criticism makes you more determined,” said Lynch. “People can give their views and their two cents worth and that will never bother me.
“If you're not delivering you deserve to take criticism from people who pay their money at the gate. You take it on the chin.
“I'm not going to stand here and try to paper over some of the cracks we have had this season. We shouldn't be finishing 21 points behind Linfield and Cliftonville (in the league).
“I'm not going to shy away from that. We shouldn't have put ourselves in that position and I'm as much a part of that as anybody else, I'm not pushing that on anybody.
“There are things we have to do as a team, as a club and we know what we have to do, the areas we have to work on and areas we have to improve.
“I won't shy away from that. We'll meet the challenge head on and hopefully we won't find ourselves in this position again.”
Lynch believes there is a growing weight of expectation on the “Larne shirt” and it's as much to do with perception as the pounds sterling wealthy owner Kenny Bruce has invested in the club in recent years.
Onlookers expect instant success, but on the uncertain terrain of football, finance doesn’t always guarantee or bestow a God-given right to major honours or silverware.
Lynch said: “I recently listened to Gareth Southgate talking about taking the England job and the biggest thing that he had to change was the weight of the shirt.
“There is definitely a weight that comes with the Larne shirt, whether that's to do with being full time or the investment at the club.
“You guys in the media also talk about ‘big spending Larne’ so there is a weight on the shirt that we have to manage.
“We have to bring people in through the door who can manage that expectation.”
Larne secured a place in the first qualifying round of the Europa Conference League with a dramatic win over Glentoran at a stunned BetMcLean Oval on Friday night.
The Glens looked comfortable at 2-0 up only for the sending-off of Paddy McClean and four goals from Larne substitute Ronan Hale, the fourth from his own half, to turn the play-off final on its head.
“We had words as a group at half-time because we were poor and never came out of the blocks,” said Lynch.
“We lacked courage, didn’t get on the ball and got bullied in the middle of the park. In truth the Glens could have been more than one or two goals to the good. We got out of jail.
“But we changed things at half time, changed personnel because we wanted to get a little bit closer to them in midfield and we played some really good football at times.
“We created good chances, scored good goals and we fought right to the very end. I couldn't be more proud of them."
Read more: Carrick Rangers boss Stuart King: Curtis Allen signing a real statement of intent
Read more: Larne goalkeeper Conor Devlin channels The Smiths as he confirms his Inver Park exit
Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox.
