Head start

Jim Magilton credited his players for setting the tone with a lively start in yesterday’s North Belfast Derby victory over Crusaders.

Two goals up courtesy of early finishes from Brian Healy and Luke Conlan, the Reds’ advantage was halved by Adam Brooks just before half-time only for Micheal Glynn to make it 3-1 shortly after the interval.

A bullet header from Scot Rough reduced the arrears again before a dream of a strike from Harry Wilson bought Cliftonville some breathing space, which Josh Kelly added to with an injury-time header.

“We flew out of the traps and that was the plan; to start on the front foot and focus on the basics that you need in a derby,” said Magilton.

“It was important we got off to a good start. It always helps when you go 2-0 up, it relaxes people, it relaxes players, but then we concede a silly goal.

“When we go in at half-time, it’s about reaffirming the positives and, again, we started the second-half wonderfully. It’s a fantastic goal from Micheal Glynn, but then they go up the other end, we concede from a set-piece.

“We’ve settled into the game again and then Harry Wilson produces a moment of sheer brilliance. It’s a fantastic goal in another fantastic performance from him. We then round things off with a great ball from Rory Hale and a wonderful finish from Josh Kelly, who I thought was outstanding.”

Having seen his side’s hopes of a winning response to their recent setback at Dungannon Swifts stymied by the midweek floodlight failure at Portadown, Magilton was delighted to pocket full points from yesterday’s milestone match-up.

“It’s local bragging rights,” he said of the 200th League meeting between the teams.

“These are big games and there’s no getting away from that. I don’t think we did ourselves justice on Boxing Day, they were better than us and deserved the win.

“I thought we deserved to win this one and I felt there was more goals in us. We just need to be more ruthless in both boxes and more ruthless when we’re on top of the game. We sometimes get a little bit sloppy and maybe that’s just a little bit of naivety but, all the same, we celebrate the win and look ahead to another massive game on Tuesday night.”