"Being clinical is important": Jim Magilton hails finishing touches as Cliftonville net five in home win over Ballymena United
Jim Magilton hailed the impact of his substitutes as Cliftonville comprehensively beat Ballymena United in a five-star performance at Solitude.
A superb long-range strike from Shea Gordon gave the hosts the lead at the interval, with the Reds then showing their lethal edge in front of goal as Joe Gormley, Eric McWoods (2) and Ryan Curran all scored in the second-half for a 5-0 victory.
Whilst admitting that his side were “careless at times” on home soil – Magilton praised his players for their proficiency in front of goal.
“We got off to a fantastic start with a magnificent goal and you’re thinking ‘right, let’s kick on’ and we didn’t,” Magilton told Cliftonville’s official website.
“Credit to Ballymena for that, it was a bit nip and tuck in the first-half.
“We were careless at times but from being careless to being clinical is important. We utilised our bench and they were all fantastic when they came on — the same as Tuesday night away to Carrick.
“Competition is great and that’s what we want, but we also want those players that are sitting watching the game to come on and make that impact and I thought they did that superbly well.”
The victory was Cliftonville’s first over the Sky Blues after losing all four previous games against Jim Ervin’s troops this term.
However, rather than being concerned about ending that streak of losses, Magilton was more satisfied that his side maintained their recent run of good results as the Irish Cup final remains on the horizon.
“My first thought is always around our performance levels and Ballymena have been better than us in most of those games, so we had to take our medicine,” he added.
“We were at home, we’re trying to get momentum, we’ve still so much to play for and it was an important message to the players in the changing room that on our day, we can play to a level.
“Ballymena have been outstanding at times this year and we had to turn up and play in the manner in which we played. That was an important statement from us.”
Speaking to BBC Sport NI, Sky Blues chief Jim Ervin says his side “feel to pieces” in the second-half.
He added: “The last 15 minutes, for whatever reason, we gave up. At 2-0 you're still in the game but the goals we conceded in the last 15 minutes were so soft.”