Players deserve credit: Magilton

Jim Magilton admits Cliftonville harbour plenty of regrets over their UEFA Conference League elimination at the hands of St Joseph’s, but credited his players for the performance they produced in challenging circumstances last night.

Behind inside a minute when Pablo Rodriguez broke the deadlock, the Reds responded well and eventually got the equaliser they deserved when Micheal Glynn found the bottom corner with a stylish finish.

Thereafter the game carried echoes of last week’s first leg in Gibraltar when, following a controversial sending off – when Odhran Casey collected a second yellow card despite cleanly winning the ball from Alvaro Rey – Cliftonville rallied to go 2-1 up; Joe Gormley marking his Club record 19th European appearance by becoming the Reds’ leading scorer in continental action.

Just like the opening game, however, St Joseph’s quickly hit back when Juanma picked his spot from the edge of the box.

Despite being up against it yet again, Magilton’s side – who played a man light for 95 of the 210 minutes over the course of both legs – almost won it deep into injury-time when Conor Falls’ shot was turned against the post by the fingertips of goalkeeper Bradley Banda.

Having started the night by swiftly falling behind inside, the Reds did the same in extra-time when substitute Hugo Jesslen claimed the slightest of touches on a scrappy finish that ultimately settled the issue.

“There’s certain gallantry in losing, but we lost – and that’s really disappointing in a game where I thought, after an initial setback, we bounced back in a good manner,” said Magilton.

“For the courage they showed, the players deserve so much credit; to suffer without the ball in the manner in which we had to but still have the tenacity and the aggression and wherewithal to play on the counter, and we nearly won it. Luke Conlan has done magnificently, Conor does everything right and the goalkeeper makes a fantastic save and I think that would have been justice for us.”

Looking back on the seven minute spell that saw Casey sent off before Gormley and Juanma exchanged goals, Magilton added: “The first-half probably came to an end too quickly for us because I thought we had momentum.

“I thought we started the second-half poorly, which didn’t help, and then we get the sending off – which obviously doesn’t help – but for the courage they showed, the players deserve so much credit.

“We did ever so well to go 2-1 up but we couldn’t hold on to it and it was a disappointing goal, I thought all their goals were poor. I didn’t think they had to work particularly hard for their goals and it’s something that we’ll look at and try and address. It’s just bitterly disappointing because I know how desperate the players were to win the game.

“The encouraging fact is that lots of the young lads have come on, got a taste of it, hopefully they want more of it and now they have to knuckle down and work their socks off to be a part of this. The senior players also deserve credit, everybody does – there were so many positives for us, but we lost and that’s just the bottom line. We lost a game I thought we were more than capable of winning.”