Larne manager Gary Haveron was left reflecting on a "heartbreaking" night as his side's bid to reach the league phase of the Uefa Conference League for the second time in three years came unstuck against Lincoln Red Imps.
Leading 2-0 from the first leg in Gibraltar, the Invermen were looking good to finish the job with the second leg scoreless entering the closing stages.
However, two goals in the space of as many minutes by Kike Gomez and Manu Toledano levelled the tie with Larne's Montel Gibson then picking up a second yellow before the end of the 90 minutes.
It appeared penalties would decide the outcome, but the concession of a penalty by Chris Gallagher in the final minute of extra-time gave Toledano the opportunity to complete the comeback and he made no mistake, leaving the Irish League champions crestfallen.
"I think that's what ultimately the feeling is, heartbreaking. So disappointed in that because for 82 minutes I thought we were absolutely brilliant," Haveron tole BBC Sport NI.
"The biggest criticism I had was we haven't taken any of the chances that we had.
"I think we limited them to very little in the second half, but then the lad [Gomez] cuts in off the left-hand side and scores an absolute wonder goal and then you're caught in that scenario where you're a bit vulnerable for that period of time. When you're vulnerable you can't afford to concede and we did concede the second goal.
"I even have a bit of a problem with the first goal because it's a clear handball from Lopez on the edge of the box and they break down and go down the other end and score. That's the small margins at this level and they haven't gone our way tonight."
'We couldn't have tried any harder'The Larne boss felt Gibson's first yellow card was "really harsh" but accepts he gave referee Radoslav Gidzhenov a decision to make when seeking to palm off a challenge that saw him pick up the second yellow.
Still, Larne had chances to add to their advantage before Red Imps' late show but ultimately, Haveron accepted his team's "game management" was not where it needed to be in the closing stages of normal time, yet is "incredibly proud" of their efforts.
"Tonight is a bitter pill to swallow given how we were 2-0 up and I felt in that different long period of time, again, we looked like the better team and I thought it was going to go on and win the game and it just hasn't turned out that way," he continued.
"We couldn't have tried any harder than what we did to hold on to it.
"I've said it right from the off, it's really important moving forward that every team that does represent NIFL or the Irish League in Europe gets every support they can possibly get.
"I'm disappointed for the league as much as I am disappointed for us tonight. We desperately wanted to secure it for them and for long periods it looked like we were going to, but that wasn't to be."
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