Magilton’s drawn down

Jim Magilton lamented “one of those days” after Cliftonville were held to a draw by Loughgall.

After taking an early lead through Jonny Addis, the Reds saw a couple of chances come and go before Jay Boyd drew the visitors level.

A few further opportunities to find the net weren’t taken before the interval and, despite having the Villagers pegged back for long stretches of the second-half, Cliftonville were repeatedly frustrated in their attempts to find a winner – with Magilton pointing to a late Ben Wilson miscue as perhaps being indicative of the afternoon in general.

“I thought in the first-half, we were lethargic and our passing wasn’t quick enough, albeit we created some great opportunities,” he said.

“We gathered our thoughts at half-time and came out better in the second-half, but without really creating too many opportunities. There were lots of crossed balls and lots of balls in the box but not many chances until Joe’s shot and then Ben Wilson’s follow-up – and it was just one of those days.

“It was obviously important that we didn’t lose the game but we certainly feel it’s two points dropped.”

As frustrated as he was with the outcome, Magilton had words of praise for how the visitors, who overcame Larne on Tuesday night, went about their business.

“Loughgall had a fantastic midweek result and they came here and showed that, they’d plenty of confidence and played to a system and I thought they did great – but these are games that we have to win,” he added.

“It’s something that we’ll talk about but it’s done now and we’ve got to refocus for Tuesday night.”