Jim Magilton praises Ben Wilson after star striker nets hat-trick to move Cliftonville into second

​Wilson, who was named Premiership Player of the Month for September, arrived at Solitude from Brighton & Hove Albion ahead of the current campaign and took his tally to 14 in as many matches as the Reds moved into second spot.

The 21-year-old netted twice to send Cliftonville into the break with a 2-0 advantage and collected the match ball five minutes after the restart before Joe Gormley and Sam Ashford rounded out the scoring.

"I’m delighted for Ben, delighted for Joe and I’m over the moon for Sam Ashford to open his account here at Solitude,” Magilton told the club’s website. “I’ve known Ben a long time and I always knew he had the attributes and the quality to score goals.

"It was a question of how quickly he could hit the ground running.

“He’s a fantastic fella, a brilliant lad and he’s a clinical finisher, so we’re chuffed to bits.”

Cliftonville also collected a fifth clean sheet in their last six games and Magilton sent his players out for the second-half with a clear message.

"We made the players aware that Dungannon are resilient,” he added. “They’ve come back, they’ve shown great resilience in other games and we had to really attack the second-half right from the first whistle and we did that.”