TIGHTEN UP OR FORGET TITLE

LINFIELD boss David Healy has told his players they can forget about defending the title if they don’t tighten up at the back.

Monday’s humbling 5-2 Premiership defeat to Crusaders was the South Belfast club’s heaviest league defeat at Windsor Park in 23 years.

Worryingly for Healy, the Blues have lost their last three league outings and shipped 10 goals in the process.

Prior to this week’s surrender to the Crues and recent defeats at Coleraine (1-2) and Cliftonville (2-3), the champions had conceded just nine goals in 21 league outings.

Healy said: “We have prided ourselves over the past 18 months as being a team that keeps clean sheets, but some of the mistakes we made against Crusaders were very basic.

“Defensively we were all over the shop. I was actually surprised by some of the mistakes we made. They are very uncharacteristic, but unfortunately they have become a common occurrence recently.

“We need to rectify that and start doing the basics right.

“I am disappointed by the run we are on and I actually felt a bit embarrassed. Whether the result flattered Crusaders a bit, they scored five and we were well beaten in the end.”

Defeat leaves Linfield, who lie fourth in the table, 10 points off early leaders Coleraine.

EMBARRASSED Healy