Paddy McLaughlin refused to take any credit for the stunning start his side made to their first home league game of the season.
Four passes and eight seconds was all it took for Cliftonville to carve Carrick Rangers open at Solitude on Saturday, as Ronan Hale latched on to Ronan Doherty’s clipped ball to hook a brilliantly improvised finish past keeper Ross Glendinning.
“The boys stay behind in training and they work on their own things,” said McLaughlin of the intricate kick-off move that ended with summer signing Hale scoring his second goal for the club.
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“Fair play to them, they came up with a bit of brilliance there, I don’t think anybody in the ground knew what was happening except for the boys involved.
“I have to give the players full credit for that one, it was a great bit of imagination and a brilliant start for us.”
It was a dramatic opening to an incident-packed clash as the Reds were caught by a one-two sucker punch combo before the break as Lloyd Anderson and David Cushley put the visitors in control at half-time.
The game then swung back in Cliftonville’s favour when Ryan Curran converted a 53rd minute penalty and Joe Gormley came off the bench to claim the winner minutes after Mark Surgenor had been sent off for a foul on man of the match Stephen Mallon.
The award of the spot-kick and the straight red card left Carrick boss Stuart King fuming, however.
“We’ve been let down by decisions that are made by people who genuinely crack me up,” said King. “I don’t want to stand here and talk about referees all day but I thought he was abysmal.
“If that’s a red card and that’s a penalty kick, then God help Irish League teams.”
Unsurprisingly, McLaughlin saw things a little differently.
“I think it was clear enough," he said. “Luke Turner got the shirt ripped off his neck, he’s lying on the ground and he’s a big unit of a fella so it’s going to take a lot for him to go to ground and the referee saw that.
“For the red card, Surgenor is a great pro and a great lad, I just think he’s a bit careless and reckless in the tackle.
“For boys like Stephen, and other good players in the league, it’s important to highlight that referees need to protect these players.
“The league is criticised at times for its standard and its quality but if you’re going to encourage boys like Stephen Mallon to get on the ball and entertain the crowd then you’ve got to protect them.
“You can’t be letting players kick him five times before you put them on a final warning. One warning should be a booking.”
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