Larne manager Gary Haveron said the club will be faced with a "difficult ask" in the UEFA Conference League play-off against Gibraltar’s Lincoln Red Imps. The first leg will take place at Victoria Stadium on Thursday, 20 August, at 17:00 BST, with the return match at Inver Park a week later.
Haveron noted that the Irish Premiership champions are returning to European action only five days after a goalless draw with Coleraine in the league, a match he felt should have been postponed by the Northern Ireland Football League. "We have got to play at six o’clock in the middle of the heat that they have out in Gibraltar," he told BBC Sport NI.
The club’s 4-3 aggregate victory over the Red Imps two years ago made Larne the first Irish League club to reach the group stages of a European competition. Haveron said the team will aim to make history again and that a successful run would strengthen the Irish Premiership’s chances of retaining its fourth European qualifying spot.
"When we go out in Europe, we are not just representing Larne or the town, we are representing the league, NIFL and the country," Haveron added. "If everyone and every club can benefit from it then brilliant and I am only glad to do it."
