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Lack of intensity cost us: Magilton

Jim Magilton lamented Cliftonville’s inability to inject some life into yesterday’s North Belfast Derby performance until it was too late.

Following what the Manager described as a “tepid” opening 45 minutes at Seaview, the Reds’ ambitions for the second period were dented by a slow start that saw Kieran Offord net twice to hand the Crusaders an advantage they didn’t relinquish – a situation that left Magilton frustrated just minutes after discussing the need to up the tempo with his players.

“The first-half was a pretty tepid affair in all honesty,” he reflected.

“We had maybe one or two little glimpses but we were just so flat. At half-time, we talked about a sense of urgency, playing with a bit more intensity and quality because our quality and decision making had been poor in the first-half.

“Then we had that mad spell where we gave the ball away cheaply, they capitalised on it and scored, so you regroup – and then they score again quickly and, ultimately, it took us to go 2-0 down before we actually decided ‘this is a big game and it’s a derby game, and we have to do more’.”

Thereafter, Cliftonville produced a much better display and threatened through Rory Hale and Joe Gormley, while Ronan Doherty brought two saves out of Jonny Tuffey but a failure to score during that period of sustained pressure slowly led to momentum slipping away.

“We showed a bit more intensity in our play and created a few chances,” added Magilton. “At least we were camped in their half and at least we were asking a few more questions but, overall, it’s very, very disappointing.

“When you’re 2-0 down, you’ve no other option but to go and play or you cave in. We didn’t cave in, we actually had a go and, on another day, things are bouncing around the box and go a different way but, no, it was a largely disappointing afternoon for us.”