WHAT THE MANAGER SAID: Declan Caddell's 'very fine margins' frustration at Irish Cup exit
Crusaders suffered a quarter-final exit in the Clearer Water Irish Cup over a 2-1 derby defeat to holders Cliftonville at Seaview.
Ryan Curran and Alex Parsons fired the Reds into a 2-0 lead before Harry Franklin cut the gap.
Here’s the verdict of Crusaders boss Declan Caddell:
OVERALL PERFORMANCE...
"Fine margins probably sums it up for me...very fine margins.
"You need that wee bit of luck any time you play Cliftonville.
"I thought we were very good the first 10 or 15 minutes, we put them under immense pressure.
"Cliftonville probably got the goal against the run of play, grew into the game and dominated the end of the first 45 minutes, we couldn't get going.
"Second half probably quite similar...we started off really, really well (but) another poor goal to concede.
"On another day we take a lot more of those opportunities...we managed to take one but just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net (again) unfortunately.
LEWIS RIDD SAVE...
"We had huge chances...Jordan Stewart, Jordan Forsythe, Philip Lowry.
"The big one that stands out is Daniel Lamour but the goalkeeper makes a wonder save to keep them in the game.
"So there were opportunities like that every few minutes but we just didn't have that clinical touch to put it away, which is unfortunate.
"They were clinical.”
CLIFTONVILLE GOALS...
"The first goal it was a cross that was headed back out, the ball comes in and (Ryan) Curran has 10 yards of free space around the penalty spot...a very poor goal for us to concede.
"The second one's the same...the defence step out, they think he was offside, I can't see it from the angle I was at but, to be fair to him (Alex Parsons), it's a great finish.
"Cliftonville probably didn't have to work for their goals today, I can't remember Jonny Tuffey having to make any saves, a couple maybe from distance.
"The bottom line is we didn't do enough today.
"When you create those opportunities, especially against a good Cliftonville side, you have to take them to do anything in the game.
"Today we didn't take them.”
REACTION TO DEFEAT...
"It's a deflated changing room at the minute...we'll get them in next week and pick them up again.
"We've got Linfield coming up, another huge game which is probably a blessing in disguise.
"We haven't got time to feel sorry for ourselves, we've got to pick ourselves up and go again for a big push for the end of the season.”