Bang in control

Jim Magilton lauded Cliftonville’s professionalism in yesterday’s Boyle Sports Premiership victory over Bangor.

First-half goals from Kyle McClelland and Ben Quinn put the Reds in control and, though home goalkeeper Gareth Deane made a string of saves to prevent the margin being extended after the break, substitute Liam McStravick wrapped up the points with a stylish strike.

Magilton was pleased with how his players set about their task against a Seasiders team who were fired up to put on a show in their first outing of the campaign.

“This is a really tough place and, given it’s their first game with the expectations and all the rest of it, we got that buzz last week, we were expecting that real desire to go and get a result,” he said.

“They certainly showed that and they caused us a few problems. Going in 2-0 up at half-time probably flattered us and we needed a little chat about increasing the quality in our play and I thought we did that.

“For large parts of the second-half, I felt we controlled the game and it was a really professional performance. I thought we did really well in terms of it being a mentality thing; large respect to Lee Feeney and his group of players because they make it extremely difficult for you.

“Overall, I’m delighted and we’ll tuck the three points away and move on to next week.”

Despite the two-goal advantage Cliftonville held at the interval, the outcome remained in the balance until McStravick’s majestic finish 10 minutes from time, with Rory Hale having been denied three times by Deane, who was relieved to see a Joe Sheridan attempt whistle just wide.

“There’s always great learnings from every game and one of those today is being clinical, especially when you’re on top, especially acknowledging that Bangor have to come out, they have to go and press for a goal, which leaves gaps and we have to exploit those gaps, which I thought we did,” added Magilton.

“I thought we controlled the game and should have killed it off but, overall, I’m really pleased.”