David Healy demands ‘better’ from Linfield despite four-goal win over Carrick Rangers

Apart from a devastating 11-minute first-half burst when Manzinga went to work, complemented by goals from Sam Roscoe and Marty Donnelly, the fans could really have packed up and gone home after that.

It was tedious stuff for the first 26 minutes before Manzinga struck — and it was even worse after Donnelly had the final say.

Healy moaned: “The result, four goals and a clean sheet, that’s what we’ll take away from this game — that’s it.

“It was a hugely important first-half spell for us because we hadn’t any other spells in the game leading up to the first goal, or after our fourth. I don’t want to be doom and gloom, but we need to be better.

“Apart from the goals, our all-round performance wasn’t up to the standard required and I’m not being disrespectful to Carrick Rangers or Stuart (King)

“We needed to move the ball quicker, we needed more options in possession, we needed to be a bit more forceful and powerful in our attacking play. We had none of that.

“Yes, we had plenty of possession, but we didn’t do a lot with it. Carrick pressed us high for the first 25 minutes or so, but we train and prepare for that.

“We gave the ball away too many times and, in the second-half, when they let us have it a bit more, we did nothing with it. I don’t think we created one chance after the restart.”

On the day former striker Shayne Lavery returned to watch the Blues for the first time since his move to Blackpool, Manzinga again demonstrated his impressive predatory instincts.

Chris Shields was hauled down by the trailing leg of Kyle Cherry and, when Kirk Millar floated in the free-kick, the big Frenchman powered home with the flick of his head.

Healy’s boys struck again three minutes later. This time Donnelly whipped in a trademark corner from the right and Roscoe got up above everyone else to balloon the net with a wicked header.

Now rampant, Jimmy Callacher sent Michael Newberry charging down the right on 34 minutes and, when his low cross was met by Manzinga, his first-time shot was saved by Neil Shields, but the big striker wasted no time in ramming in the rebound — his ninth goal of the season.

The home crowd were on their feet again eight minutes before the interval. Shields, Jordan Stewart and Millar sliced through brittle Rangers, leaving Donnelly to finish the job from the edge of the box — a real collectors’ item with his right-boot, although the keeper hardly covered himself in glory.

Rangers boss King admitted he was gobsmacked following his team’s first-half collapse.

“We were done by 11 minutes of madness,” he said. “The boys did all I asked of them for the first 25 minutes, I thought we were very good, but then our discipline went.

“We wanted to frustrate Linfield for a long as we could but once you concede goals in such a short space of time, you’ve no chance.

“The first two were really preventable. Some players have held up their hands and took the blame, but they need to learn very, very quickly.

“We stopped for 10 or 15 minutes. I’m not going to hide behind that, but I’m also going to accept it. It wasn’t’ good enough defensively.”

LINFIELD: Johns 7, Roscoe-Byrne 7, Newberry 7, Shields 8, Callacher 7, Millar 7, Manzinga 7 (Mulgrew, 74 mins, 6), Stewart 6 (Chadwick, 68 mins, 6), Clarke 7 (Quinn, 74 mins, 6), Fallon 7 (Salam, 74 mins, 6), Donnelly 7 (Green, 68 mins, 6). Unused subs: Walsh, Larkin.

CARRICK: Shields 5, Forsythe 5, Surgenor 6, Ervin 6, Gawne 6 (Doyle, 90 mins, 5), Kelly 5 (Kalla, 74 mins, 5), Cherry 5 (McGimpsey, 90 mins, 5), Glendinning 6 (Kelly, 63 mins, 5), Gibson 5 (McGuckin, 74 mins, 5), Tilney 5, Anderson 5. Unused subs: Skeet, Buchanan-Rolleston.

REFEREE: Ian McNabb (Newtownabbey) 7.

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