We lacked purpose: Magilton

Jim Magilton labelled Cliftonville’s performance in yesterday’s 2-0 defeat to Portadown as “unacceptable” after his side rarely looked like recovering from falling behind inside two minutes.

Eamon Fyfe’s opener was added to by Josh Ukek in the second-half and, having called for an improved display on the Reds’ last visit to Shamrock Park, Magilton admitted: “That was equally as poor.

“It was probably as poor a performance as we’ve produced away from home. There were moments but not enough. We didn’t have the intensity in our game, we lacked purpose, we lacked real desire to go and play the conditions.

“I felt there was only one team wanting to win the game and one or two of our lads maybe had an eye on what might be – and for some of them, it won’t be, that’s the bottom line.

“We limped to a 2-0 defeat, we didn’t go with any real desire. There wasn’t a collective desire that we were going to get something out of the game.

“The first goal happens early in the game and we’ve plenty of time to get ourselves back in it, but there was a lack of purpose in our play, there was no real character in our play and the least our fans expect is a real work ethic, a real hunger and we didn’t have any of that.”

Magilton made five changes from the side that got the better of Glenavon last time out and, with the Clearer Water Irish Cup Final a fortnight away, a draw against the Ports would have provided the Reds with the safety net of a place in the European Play-Offs.

As it stands, avoiding defeat against Loughgall in next week’s closing Sports Direct Premiership fixture will guarantee things in that regard and the boss expects a much improved showing at Lakeview Park.

“We’ve talked about managing the squad and managing the group,” he added.

“When you get to this stage of the season, not everyone’s going to play perfect in terms of injuries, so we are always very aware of making sure that we get the minutes into players, but we’ve now got to go next week and win the game and our intent will be to pick a team that will do it.

“If we play like we did here, we won’t win it. If we go with that attitude, we won’t win it. The attitude and application here was second best, it’s not acceptable. If people are thinking that they’re saving themselves for a Cup Final, they’re definitely with the wrong Manager and wrong staff.”