Style and substance

Paddy McLaughlin says his Cliftonville players should take extra pride for utilising both sides of their game to see off Glenavon yesterday.

After a dominant first-half display that saw Aaron Donnelly and Ryan Curran on the scoresheet amid a series of saves from visiting keeper Craig Hyland, the momentum of the tie swung on the 54th minute header that Peter Campbell planted in the Reds’ net.

From that point on, Glenavon laid siege to the home goal and, aside from a teasing Daire O’Connor delivery that Paul O’Neill came within inches of converting, Cliftonville were forced into a resolute defensive performance – and McLaughlin was pleased to see his men adapt to the nature of the contest.

“In the first-half, I thought we were sensational,” he said.

“Some of the football we played was excellent and it was good to see us playing on the front foot and creating chances.

“In the second-half, the game turned. Glenavon stopped the service, stopped us from playing and also put us under a lot of pressure so there was two sides to the game.

“You take a wee bit of extra special pride from that because if you’re known for playing nice football and don’t do that, you can lose the game. If you’re only known for your battling qualities and don’t get it right, you can lose the game so to put the two of them together was brilliant for the team.”

The Manager also paid tribute to the performance of goalkeeper Aaron McCarey, who commanded his area during that second-half onslaught.

“I thought he was superb, not just in terms of saving shots but also coming for crosses, organising his back four, barking out his orders, making sure people do their jobs – his all-round game was top drawer and that’s why we brought him here,” added McLaughlin.

“You need that reassurance in your keeper. A good keeper can play in behind any back four and that’s what we’ve been dealing with at the minute due to injuries and suspensions. It’s been a crazy year for everybody but none more so than ourselves, the record we have with injuries is horrendous, so Aaron’s never really had a settled back four playing in front of him but, with performances like that and leadership skills like that, big Decky O’Hara could almost get a game in front of him now.”

As encouraged as he was to see players “put their bodies on the line” after the break, McLaughlin insisted it was not simply a case of his men sitting back to protect their lead and credited the players for reacting to Glenavon’s improvement.

“If a team whips every ball back into the box, what are you going to tell your back four – just to run past the ball?,” he reasoned.

“They can only take their position off where the ball is and, more times than enough, Glenavon recycled it and put it back in the box, put it wide, put it back in the box and they’re good at that. Conor McCloskey was the best player in the League last month and when you’ve got that kind of player in your locker in a wide area, you know you’re going to get top quality from him every time, so there’s not really much you can do when you’re playing against that kind of style and talent.

“I thought our back four defended really well, they defended McCarey superbly. We’re disappointed to have conceded the goal but, in terms of our positional sense and in terms of our defending, I don’t think the players should listen to any criticism because they were superb.”