We faced Cliftonville on one of their quality nights, says Ards manager John Bailie
Ards manager John Bailie conceded his side faced Cliftonville at their devastating best as they were put to the sword in the semi-final of the Irish Cup.
The north Down’s dreams of a final appearance were dashed by the holders as Joe Gormley, Alex Parsons and Ryan Corrigan eased Cliftonville through to the showpiece decider.
Ards did have their chances as Aidan Steele’s goal bound effort was blocked at 0-0, whilst Darius Roohi’s dangerous cross was palmed over the bar by Lewis Ridd at 1-0.
However, two late efforts from Parsons and Corrigan settled the tie in Cliftonville’s favour as Ards’ fairytale run ended in the last four.
"Listen, Cliftonville are a quality side and I think we've faced them on one of their quality nights,” Bailie said.
"They kept the ball well, their rotations were good and their speed of play was top-notch.
"I felt we struggled for large periods to deal with that, however, we came in at half-time at 1-0 down and they had a massive let-off early in the game where a shot hit their defender's head when it looked like going into the net.
"At 1-0, we felt fairly comfortable that we were well in the game and we knew come 65 minutes...we had to do something different because whilst we were in the game, we weren't really posing much of a threat the other way.
"We made a couple of subs and changed the formation a little bit, which probably worked and we were probably enjoying our best spell in the game, but they broke and scored the second goal.
"The second goal has probably put the second goal to bed but the disappointing thing for me was whilst we continued to have a go, we forgot to close the door at the back and it was too easy for Cliftonville at the end and they could have scored more.
"I'm proud of the players, they put in another shift, they've worked really hard but unfortunately, we just didn't have enough quality.”
Ards beat Premiership opposition in Ballymena United and Loughgall en-route to the last four, with Championship form also good as they finished in the top-six.
When asked about what his side can take forward in their last five games of the campaign, Bailie stated: "We have to continue doing what we've been doing to get here.
"The boys continue to work really hard but tonight we just fell short because we came up against a quality side who are better than us - that's the simple fact of the situation.
"We haven't faced that level of opposition this season and that includes the first time we played Cliftonville.
"People will say because it's a bigger pitch that we couldn't get closer to them - possibly - but they played the elements really well.
"We knew Jim (Magilton) wasn't going to take us lightly as we played them earlier in the season and we did really well against them and took them to penalties.
"I knew they weren't going to make any changes and I think that's as strong as they could have gone.
"There's no shame in coming here and losing. Sometimes you can reflect on the goals you concede and think you can do better...but we've lost to a good side tonight.”