Manner of means

Jim Magilton says the manner of Cliftonville’s victory over Linfield at Windsor Park yesterday pleased him just as much as the result.

Despite being in control of the contest from the outset, the Reds somehow found themselves behind at half-time but stuck manfully to their task after the interval and were eventually rewarded when goals in the final 10 minutes from substitutes Ryan Curran and Ryan Corrigan turned the game on its head.

“I thought from minute one to minute whatever it was, our focus, concentration and determination to get a result was first class,” reflected the Manager.

“Some of the football we played was really, really good. To come here and play in the manner in which we played against a top class side, who are top of the League, was fabulous.

“Linfield have too many good players and if you give them a moment, they’re going to hurt you. Take the goal, for example – we had five or six set pieces in a row and then they go and have one and they score from it, so in a split second, the game can change.

“At half-time, it was about reinforcing the positives – be better as an individual and be better as a team. Once we scored, I just felt that the momentum was with us and that was important.

“The good thing was when we equalised, we didn’t settle for that – we wanted to press for the winner and that really
pleased me.”

Things might have been different but for a superb double save from David Odumosu just before the hour; the Cliftonville goalkeeper getting down to block Matthew Fitzpatrick’s initial effort before reacting smartly to ensure the striker’s close-range follow up didn’t cross the line – with Magilton jokingly hinting that the 23-year-old was only doing his job.

“Yeah… what does Roy Keane say?,” he laughed. “It’s a great save and David’s an important player for us and has has been since he’s come into the Club.”

It wasn’t just Odumosu that Magilton denied plaudits, with the Reds chief taking no pats on the back for introducing goalscorers Curran and Corrigan – as well as Ruaidhri Donnelly, who set up the equaliser – from the bench.

“Gerard Lyttle will take all the credit for the changes and he’s just told me to make sure you know that,” he explained.

“Gerard was in my ear constantly to do this and do that, and that’s what he’s really, really good at, he gets a sense of that and he was spot on and he deserves a lot of credit for that.”