Jim Magilton gives view on Cliftonville red card with 'poor decision-making' costing Reds
Cliftonville manager Jim Magilton feels “a culmination of poor decision-making” cost his side after Ballymena United recovered to salvage a point following Rory Hale’s sending off.
The Reds took an early lead as Sean Robertson pounced on a defensive mistakes after only two minutes before Brian Healy doubled his side’s advantage with a fifth league goal since joining from H&W Welders in January.
However, momentum swung moments after the break when Cliftonville captain Hale was caught in possession by Igor Rutkowski before bringing down the Ballymena striker inside the box.
Adjudged to be the last man, Hale was shown a straight red card with Rutkowski making no mistake from the penalty spot – the 21-year-old has now netted nine times in 11 league appearances for the Sky Blues.
James Hood drew Ballymena level, securing a point for Oran Kearney’s men at Solitude, and Magilton felt collective errors ultimately led to Hale’s dismissal.
“It’s poor decision-making from our point of view,” he said. “We haven’t really set to play out and we’ve given Ballymena an opportunity to press, which they did.
"It’s a heavy touch from Rory, it’s got away from him and then he’s the last man and it’s a red card. It was a culmination of poor decision-making on our part and it’s cost us.”
After Dungannon Swifts had suffered a 1-0 defeat to Bangor earlier on Saturday, Cliftonville knew they were guaranteed to finish fifth regardless of result.
It means they’ll start their split schedule with a trip to league leaders Larne on Saturday.
“I thought we were good in the first-half,” added Magilton on his side’s weekend display. “We were busy and looked as if we were going to score goals, which was really important.
"I’ve been slightly critical of us in the final third and still think we can tighten up up there and be better in the final third.
“We were a little bit wasteful towards the end of the first-half when we had opportunities three-v-two and two-v-one but our final ball wasn’t good enough.
“When you go down to 10 men, you have to show character and resilience because it’s always a massive shift.
"The players worked their socks off and we’ve come away with a point but there’s a sense of disappointment.”