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Paddy’s on to a winner

Paddy McLaughlin says that, while Cliftonville’s players were disappointed with their performance in yesterday’s defeat of Dungannon Swifts, he was happy to claim a third win in a week.

After overcoming Carrick Rangers and Ballymena United, the Reds maintained their form with a hard-fought success that required a fightback from falling behind in the first-half and a response to the away side levelling shortly after the interval.

With Ronan Hale and a deflected Cricky Gallagher drive finding the net before the break, Michael Rudy’s own goal put Cliftonville 3-2 up before Chris Curran put the seal on things with a well-taken finish.

“Getting the three points is what we wanted but we’re disappointed with the goals we conceded and with the composure and control of the game that we had,” said McLaughlin.

“We’re 1-0 down, then we turn the game to go 2-1 up and are expecting that momentum to carry into the second-half but we got off to a slow start and it’s game on again at 2-2.

“You have to give our boys credit because they showed composure to come back from another setback and for having the quality to turn the game on its head for a second time. The players will be disappointed with the goals against and how open the game was but you have to credit them for winning it.”

McLaughlin felt that referee Ian McNabb was wrong to award Dungannon the penalty that allowed James Knowles to open the scoring, arguing that Jonny Addis had tripped Rhyss Campbell outside the box, and also felt his side should have had three spot-kicks of their own over the course of the afternoon.

“We had four penalty calls go against us – one that was awarded for a foul outside the box and three that weren’t given at all,” he added.

“Ian McNabb’s a top referee but I would just look at his performance and ask him how he never gave us one of those three penalty calls.

“We didn’t get a penalty at Ballymena on Tuesday night for a blatant push on Ryan Curran on the goal-line, so there’s a few penalties in two games in a row we never got and I just hope it’s not something that’s going to be continuous. If fouls are made in the box, we’d rather have the penalties than the benefit of the doubt being given to the opposition.”

Having seen Levi Ives ruled out of those victories over Carrick and Ballymena, McLaughlin was also forced to contend without Stephen Mallon yesterday following the winger’s enforced withdrawal from the midweek joust at The Showgrounds and provided an injury update on the pair.

“Levi, unfortunately, has a broken foot,” he confirmed.

“It’s an injury to the other foot that had kept him out for so long before. It’s incredibly bad luck for him and we’re probably talking Christmas before he’s back.

“For Stephen Mallon, hopefully it’s not as bad as first feared. We thought he might have been out long-term but it might only be a couple of weeks depending on how he responds to treatment over the next week or two.”