Larne 'stuck together' in Red Star Belgrade loss

Larne manager Gary Haveron said their Champions League qualifying defeat by Red Star Belgrade was a "great learning experience" despite the 9-0 aggregate scoreline. The Serbian champions won 5-0 at Stadion Rajko Mitic in front of a racaus home support after a dominant display at Inver Park in the first leg. The Inver Reds will now face Georgia's Iberia 1999 in the third qualifying round of the Europa League as they look to make the league phase in Europe for the second time. "I am very proud of the performance, and it is a great learning experience for us to get better at what we do," Haveron said. "When you come up against the level of opposition that we have, they are so clever, and at this level of football you get punished for every simple mistake and lapse in concentration and that is what happened here. "We had to suffer without the ball a lot and I thought we suffered together, stuck together, never threw in the towel and kept fighting." Larne will now welcome Iberia 1999 to Inver Park on Tuesday, 4 August in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier. The Georgian side have won Erovnuli Liga the past two seasons and currently occupy top spot. Haveron added that the Inver Reds must learn from their Champions League campaign to avoid getting "hurt badly" as they aim to keep their dream alive of making more history and qualifying again for the group stages of a European competition. "I think after the first leg of [the Champions League] and even before we drew Red Star we had one eye on the next Europa League game," he continued. "We put everything into this game and prepared as best as we could, but we always felt the level that we were going to be competitive in is the Europa and Conference League, while the Champions League is the best of the best. "We now go again against a Georgian team who are a fantastic side and are mid-season. We know we have a lot to do but know the level, we have to try create more chances and play higher up the pitch." Dominant Red Star sweep Larne aside in Belgrade