Goalden blunder

Jim Magilton admitted that a poor start to the second-half cost Cliftonville in last night’s Sports Direct Premiership clash with Larne – but also pointed to a game-changing incident just before the interval that hit his side hard.

The Reds thought they had broken the deadlock when a Rory Hale delivery was nodded home by Ryan Curran who, having seemingly been played onside by at least two defenders, was shocked to see assistant referee Stephen Donaldson raise his flag to rule the goal out.

Larne duly took the lead shortly after the turnaround and, despite going close to a leveller on more than one occasion, the concession of a second goal late on condemned Cliftonville to defeat.

Afterwards, Magilton was left to rue the officiating call that denied his team the breakthrough.

“It was a well worked Ryan Curran goal and, from our vantage point on what we’ve seen, it was a goal,” he said.

“That always gives you a foothold in the game.

“I thought for spells we were really good, used the ball really well, created opportunities and nullified Larne’s threat – because they’re always a threat – and going in at half-time, you’re thinking ‘let’s just get off to a quick start’ and we haven’t done that. So there’s something not quite right. We didn’t start the second-half well against Crusaders and got punished and we didn’t start the second-half well here and got punished.

“It’s a really disappointing night but I think there’s enough there for us to go away and work with and build that confidence.”

On recent form, he added: “Fundamental errors have been costing us games and that’s something that has to be addressed.

“We’re getting bodies back now which is good and I think we just have to pick a team and try and go with it. I think the consistency in selection last year – and obviously you get fortunate with injuries – helped us get results, so we’re going to try and get back to that.