Jim Magilton feels Cliftonville 'were so far off it' during Ballymena United defeat

The Reds had only lost one of seven league matches this term heading into their clash with the Sky Blues and were coming off Tuesday’s stalemate against leaders Linfield at Solitude, but Ben Kennedy’s early penalty and second-half strikes from Kym Nelson and Ethan Devine helped Jim Ervin’s men leapfrog Cliftonville into second spot.

Jonny Addis’ first-half equaliser and a late Joe Gormley penalty gave Magilton’s men hope of a positive result, but the former Northern Ireland international was left disappointed by their lack of quality in front of goal.

“It was so lacklustre, it was so lethargic,” he told the club’s website. “Even when we get ourselves back into the game, I thought we’d kick on and we didn’t.

"There was a lack of urgency, a lack of real quality and we gave the ball away so cheaply. While possession is something that we pride ourselves on, we never forced a save from the keeper in the second-half, which is mind-boggling.

"To think of the quality we have in our team, to think that Sean O’Neill hasn’t had a save to make. Our quality in the final third was really, really poor.

“You’re going into this game thinking we have to kick on, we have to really lay down a marker – but we were so far off it, it was unbelievable.”

Rory Hale continued his return from injury by playing the final half-hour, following on from 20 minutes in their midweek draw with Linfield, as Magilton stuck with largely the same side that also defeated Loughgall 5-1 last weekend, apart from an ill Ryan Curran who wasn’t involved in the squad.

“Maybe in hindsight, I’d make changes, but you just want to continue the momentum,” he added. “We had momentum, as did Ballymena, going into the game and there was nothing which suggested we were going to turn up and play in the manner we did.”