Irish League Football

Image source, Press Eye

Crusaders boss Declan Caddell said his side were "poor" in their 2-1 loss against Glentoran in the BetMcLean Cup.

Jonathan Russell opened the scoring for the Glens after 44 seconds with David Fisher adding a second before half-time for last year's beaten finalists.

Kurtis Forsythe scored a late consolation for the Crues, but Caddell said that goal did not tell the story of the game as it was "never close".

"Poor," is how Caddell summed up his team's performance at the Oval to BBC Sport NI as Crusaders fell to a fourth straight defeat in all competitions.

"The plan for this competition was we want to go out there and give it everything we had and when you concede after 44 seconds, the confidence just drains out of the players and that's probably how I see the game unfold.

"We never laid a glove on Glentoran, and we didn't have a shot until we scored the goal so really disappointing.

"We lost too many individual battles and we looked lethargic. Saturday [2-0 league loss against Dungannon Swifts] was a big disappointment, tonight was even worse."

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Linfield boss David Healy said his side were "rubbish" in their 0-0 draw against Cliftonville on Sunday.

The Blues failed to trouble Reds stopper Peter Morrison, with Matthew Fitzpatrick firing wide and Sam Roscoe heading over their best two chances in a cagey game in north Belfast.

The champions have now drawn back-to-back league games and are 11 points behind leaders Coleraine with three games in hand, with Healy calling for his side to re-discover their quality in the final third.

"Rubbish," was Healy's initial assessment of the game.

"I think in terms of a spectacle, both teams were poor. I'm sure if I spoke to Jim (Magilton), he'd probably say the same. The disappointing thing is that when you look at the attacking quality supposedly on paper, we never showed it today.

"It's not always the forward players. Our attacking players include full-backs, midfielders, wide players. Collectively, we just didn't deliver. We work on a lot of things in training, but we didn't really see that come through today, which is frustrating."

Healy said that he had "no complaints about the effort" from his side but does have "concerns about decision-making in the final third".

"Effort and attitude were fine, but our quality in the attacking areas wasn't good enough. If we'd been a bit sharper from the middle third to the final third, we could have won the game," he added.

"A performance like that, on TV and in front of a good crowd, makes it plain to see that we lack that killer instinct, that cutting edge. That's why the game ended goalless for us."

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Cliftonville boss Jim Magilton said that he was "slightly disappointed we didn't get all three points" after his side were held to a 0-0 draw against Linfield.

The Reds dominated possession at Solitude and had the better chances with Eric McWoods squandering a good opportunity and substitute Joe Gormley rattling the crossbar in the last minute.

The draw leaves the Reds ninth in the table, but Magilton was pleased with his side's "competitive" performance as they recorded a second successive clean sheet in the league.

"There was a real determination to keep the ball out of our net today, especially in the closing stages when Linfield posed a real threat," he told BBC Sport NI.

"For all of us, we pride ourselves on clean sheets. It's the foundation of any really good side, so we need to keep that going.

"I'm delighted with their attitude; we kept going. We were probably unlucky in the end with Joe's (Gormley) opportunity, but all in all, I'm really pleased with the performance, but slightly disappointed we didn't get all three points."

Magilton praised teenage duo Joe Sheridan and Keevan Hawthorne, who have impressed this season, and both started and caught the eye again against the Blues.

"It's a big game, big crowd, and they handled the occasion very well. We trust them," Magilton added.

"They've been in and around the squad for some time; they've developed so quickly, and they deserve to play.

"Their attitude to everything we're doing is a real credit to them. Long may that continue.

"They're going to have ups and downs as young players do, but at the moment they're going really well."

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Coleraine boss Ruaidhri Higgins said his side "scored some great goals" in their 5-1 win over 10-man Glenavon.

Joel Cooper netted a hat-trick with Matthew Shevlin and Levi Ives also getting on the scoresheet for the Bannsiders.

And Higgins was pleased with the league leaders' ruthless streak in the second half after an underwhelming first half.

"We played some decent stuff in the first half, but we were a bit lethargic, we got a goal at a really good time," he told BBC Sport NI.

"We asked for more energy, tempo and intensity second half and I felt we came out with the bit between our teeth and scored some great goals.

"We said Tuesday [2-2 draw against Linfield] would be a good point if we did our business today and we did. It's been a good week."

Cooper, who moved into double digits for the season with his treble added that his side were "outstanding" in the second half of the big win.

"It's pleasing [to score three] , the result is more important but to score a hat-trick is nice," he explained.

"I've got two goals in a few games this season and haven't got the third so it's nice. The boys were outstanding and thoroughly deserved the three points."

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Ballymena United boss Jim Ervin was left to rue the concession of "cheap goals" as his side lost 2-0 to Larne at the Showgrounds.

The visitors dominated the first half and deservedly led through goals from Paul O'Neill and Conor McKendry.

Those two strikes proved enough to condemn Ballymena to a fourth straight league loss and Ervin voiced his displeasure at the manner of the goals conceded.

"Very poor first half, cheap goals again. I sound like a broken record, and the players know it themselves. The goals we're conceding are just so cheap," he told BBC Sport NI.

"We don't close down dangerous players in the box, we don't stop the cross, we just back off and back off. That's not what we've set out to do, so it's extremely frustrating.

Second half, we changed our shape and were a wee bit better, but when you're chasing two goals, it's always difficult. I was pleased with the second half to a degree, but the first half was shocking."

Ervin added he was struggling to put his finger on what is causing his side to leak so many goals.

"We've changed personnel because that's the first thing you look at. You change it, maybe get away with it for a game or two, and then it starts to creep back in," he continued.

"We've worked all week in training, and everyone's on the money there - fighting for it, blocking crosses, heading and tackling everything in the box, but for whatever reason, when they go onto the pitch, they're scared.

"That's probably the only way I can describe it. In training, they understand their jobs and do them well, but maybe we just give too much respect to our opposition."

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Larne boss Gary Haveron said his side were "very professional in our approach" as they beat Ballymena United 2-0 at the Showgrounds.

First-half goals from Paul O'Neill and Conor McKendry secured the win for the Inver outfit, who are third in the table.

And Haveron believes their first-half display was the perfect response following last weekend's disappointing 1-1 draw against Bangor.

"When you go away from home, it's brilliant to get the clean sheet and the two goals were absolutely fantastic," he told BBC Sport NI.

"The only disappointing thing is we haven't built on that, and we should've had the game dead and buried at half-time, such was our dominance, but delighted with a clean sheet at an awkward place and a difficult pitch, but I thought we were deserving of three points.

"We were disappointed with the Bangor result. We had 70% possession and huffed and puffed but didn't put the ball in the back of the net, so we were disappointed with that because it felt like two points dropped.

"We had to maximise the opportunity today. We were very professional in our approach, dominated the first 10-15 mins and set the tone for the rest of the game."