Cliftonville boss Magilton pleased with points if not performance against battling Ballymena

Sports Direct Premiership: Cliftonville 3 Ballymena United 0

The fact that Jim Magilton wasn’t wholly enthused about a 3-0 win over Ballymena United at Solitude tells us why Cliftonville are still in the hunt for the Sports Direct Premiership title this year.

Two goals from Ronan Hale and a peach of a strike from Ronan Hale put the Sky Blues to the sword in North Belfast on Saturday, but the Reds were made to work for the win.

The Cliftonville boss put this down to enforced changes to his team, which included new signings Ben Wylie and Shea Gordon.

“We knew we were going to have injuries for the game”, said Magilton.

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“Rory Hale and Luke Turner were both injured. Ben Wylie makes his home debut, Chrissy Curran has come in, Stevie McGuinness comes in.

“Stevie hasn’t played much football, Ben hasn’t played much football but they are good players.

“So there are changes and that can always add to a little bit of inconsistency in terms of our overall performance.

“I’m a big believer in consistency and consistency of selection in how we want to play.

“We knew it was going to be difficult and they didn’t disappoint us.

“We weren’t at our fluid best by any stretch of the imagination but you have to pay credit to the opposition, the coaches and the manager.

“They had a gameplan so we just had to win the game but again, credit to the opposition.”

Jim Ervin’s Ballymena United are in the thick of a relegation battle, six points ahead of bottom club Newry City having played a game more and six points behind Dungannon Swifts in 10th position.

Ervin managed Ballymena to three victories in a row in recent weeks and set out to keep free-scoring Cliftonville at bay on Saturday.

Attacking left back Sean Stewart had a field day in the first half, plundering the left flank to create chances for Ben Wilson and home debutant Ben Wylie in the first 15 minutes, with Sean O’Neill tipping the first effort onto the bar and Wylie slicing wide from 14 yards.

Hale sent a header crashing off the woodwork on the half hour before breaking the deadlock from the penalty spot eight minutes later.

Again, Stewart was involved as he was racing down the right channel of the box when Dylan Boyle put in a tackle that saw Stewart tumble and referee Ben McMaster took a second before pointing to the spot.

Hale found the bottom left corner clinically but had to wait until the hour to add to his tally, as the visitors lifted their game after the break.

Indeed, Ballymena were pressing when the Reds caught them on the counter attack as Joe Gormley fed Hale to his right and the 25-year-old carried the ball into the box to cut inside and fire under O’Neill.

For all their industry, Ballymena lacked a cutting edge in front of goal and Dohert applied the coup de grace on 79 minutes when he turned to arc a wonderful shot over O’Neill from 25 yards.

“It was never a penalty, the whole team was adamant it wasn’t a penalty”, rapped Ballymena boss Jim Ervin.

“That throws your game plan out the window.

“I thought in the first half we did what we set out to do; frustrate them.

“Second half, some of our football was really good, but nothing in the final third and that has been the story of our season.

“We’ve done really well until the final third, and then nothing.”

The win keeps Cliftonville in third position in the league, eight points behind leaders Linfield with a game in hand.

Cliftonville” Odumosu, S Stewart, Addis, Curran (c) (Pepper 74), Doherty, Casey, Ronan Hale, Kearney, Wilson (Gormley 38), McGuinness, Wylie ( Gordon 60). Subs; Gartside, Kenny, Jordan,Corrigan.

Ballymena United: O’Neill, Nelson, Whiteside (c), Waide (Friel 82), McCullough (O’Boyle 90+3), Taylor, McGrory(Stewart 64), Tennant, Boyle, Brown, Place (Mallon 82). Subs; Johnston, D Taylor, McAuley.

Referee; Mr Ben McMaster.