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Mad timing

Paddy McLaughlin bemoaned the “five minutes of madness” that cost Cliftonville in last night’s Danske Bank Premiership defeat to Linfield.

After an even first-half when goalkeeper Richard Brush had rarely been exerted, the Reds – who had threatened through a Joe Gormley snapshot before seeing a Conor McMenamin effort blocked in a crowded goalmouth – were slow out of the traps after the interval with both Shayne Lavery and Kirk Millar netting in quick succession to give the hosts an advantage they never surrendered.

As well as the natural disappointment at seeing his side beaten, McLaughlin was particularly frustrated to hand Linfield the initiative having kept them comfortably at bay in the opening period.

“We were done with five minutes of madness,” he said.

“We didn’t come out for the second-half and that couple of minutes cost us the game.

“The game was won and lost in those five minutes. I actually spoke to the boys during the interval about keeping it tight at the back because I knew Linfield would have a reaction because they were frustrated going in at half-time.

“We nullified their threat and stopped them from playing in the first 45 minutes and we enjoyed long spells on the ball ourselves.I knew they could come out firing on all cylinders, but our boys never heeded the warning.

“They are usually good at taking on information, but for some reason they didn’t take it on board and they gifted them two soft goals which cost us the match.

“You can’t afford to be sloppy as we were for even for a five-minute spell and the manner in which we handed them the goals was annoying.

“We also didn’t create enough in the final third. When you play Linfield, you have to be clinical.

“We didn’t work the keeper often enough. We had plenty of the ball but we lacked that cutting edge.”