Paddy rues “recipe for disaster”

Paddy McLaughlin labelled Cliftonville’s approach a “recipe for disaster” after watching the team ship two late goals in yesterday’s Danske Bank Premiership draw with Glenavon.

Leading 2-0 through Ronan Hale and Joe Gormley, the Reds were pegged back by a Josh Doyle effort and Jonny Addis’ own goal in the closing minutes before seeing substitute Odhran Casey sent off for a foul on Peter Campbell.

“It’s clearly two points dropped and we’re bitterly disappointed,” said McLaughlin.

“I think in the first-half, we’d two or three great chances; in the second-half, we’d two or three great chances and we’ve taken two out of the five or six we’ve created and, when you look back, up until the 80th minute, we were quite comfortable.

“The downfall was that people got complacent, people got comfortable and a couple of individual errors led to chaos in the last 10 minutes. That can happen. When people get comfortable and complacent, it’s a recipe for disaster.

“We didn’t put our foot on the ball and there wasn’t any kind of game management at all.

“The reason we panicked, lost our shape and lost our composure all together is something we have to improve on because, even at 2-1 with a few minutes to go, you should batten down the hatches, deal with whatever’s thrown at you and see out the rest of the game. It shouldn’t have gone to 2-1 but when that happens, you have to roll the sleeves up and I didn’t see any of that at all.

“We’ll learn from it, we’ll deal with it and we’ll take the hit. When people get comfortable and complacent with their position on the pitch, there’s no place for it at this Club. If I just let that happen, I wouldn’t be doing my job properly.”

McLaughlin felt that Casey’s challenge on Campbell warranted a booking and questioned Fourth Official Jamie Robinson’s role in helping referee Ross Dunlop opt for a straight red card.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt it’s a yellow card, he’s taken him out and has stopped a promising attack,” he explained.

“The referee had the yellow card out and decided 30 seconds later it was a red card.

“We need to clear up the role of the Fourth Official – they’re either there to influence decisions or they’re not because when you call for something, they tell you it’s not their call but obviously something has happened down the mic that’s changed the referee’s mind from a yellow card to a red card.

“That’s just something I’d like cleared up. There were a few decisions we called for during the game where the Fourth Official has said it’s nothing to do with him and, if that’s the case, what’s his involvement in that decision?”