CLIFTONVILLE manager Jim Magilton has warned his players that they will continue to lose games if they continue to put in lacklustre performances.
The Reds go into the weekend's clash at home to Ballymena United on Saturday (3pm kick-off), off the back of three straight defeats, the most recent coming away to Limavady United at the weekend.
Magilton felt his players thought it was a case of turning up and they would win at the weekend, but acknowledges that they are capable of halting their recent poor form, but won't if they continue to put in similar displays.
“It was such a lacklustre performance from us,” admits Magilton.
“There were huge expectations going into the game. We turned up thinking it was going to be easy and it definitely wasn’t and Limavady deserved to win the game.
“There is every chance we can bounce back but if we continue to play like that then we are going to lose games."
Magilton was full of praise for Paul Owen's Roesiders and in his assessment of his own side's performance thought they lacked the attributes needed to claim all three points.
“Limavady deserved to win, the first half they were excellent, played better than we did,” he reflected.
“We didn’t show up. Away from home, we didn’t show all the attributes that you need. You have to be hard to beat, we were so easy to play against.
“We tried to set up a different system and it didn’t materialise because of a lack of courage with the ball.
“The goalkeeper makes a mistake, which can happen – but it is our reaction after that. Our reaction after that was so poor. When you put on that shirt you’ve got to die and we’re not."
The Reds boss was also critical of the lack of desire and felt the team turned up thinking they could pass the ball around their newly promoted opponents.
“It’s just a poor goal, there is a want and you have to have the desire to take the ball and play and we didn’t,” Magilton acknowledged.
“I got the impression that we thought we were just going to tip up and just pass the ball and Limavady were going to make life easy for us.
“They misread that script because Limavady definitely won’t do that. Limavady showed a real desire to go and get a result, especially in the first half – they were miles better than us and it’s back to the drawing board I'm afraid."
Cliftonville are back in action with a home fixture against Ballymena United on Saturday afternoon.
