Sport

Crues turn the screw

IN Solitude's media room, defeated Cliftonville boss Tommy Breslin wore one of those coat-hanger smiles after yesterday's morale-sapping derby defeat to Crusaders.

The club's pursuit of three-in-arow looked slightly more distant yesterday as soon as Paul Heatley's low drive hit the back of Cliftonville's net on the hour mark to settle this St Stephen's Day clash.

The defending champions have now lost four of their last seven league games and trail leaders Linfield by seven points and Crusaders by three.

The Reds huffed and puffed for most of the game and yet they could have grabbed a share of the spoils in the dying moments, but Sean O'Neill made a brilliant block to deny Jude Winchester from close range.

In truth, a late equaliser would have been rough justice on Crusaders who defended impeccably and counter-attacked brilliantly at times.

From Breslin's perspective, he was frustrated with his side's reluctance to make the most of many good situations around the Crusaders penalty area.

"Crusaders looked the sharper," said the Cliftonville manager.

"We needed a delay of a second to put a cross in or to get a shot off, whereas Crusaders always looked lively on the counter-attack.

"We're disappointed because we targeted today to get us back in the running. But we're not out of it. There are 16 games to go and 48 points to play for."

Cliftonville's miserable day was compounded by a sickening knee injury to veteran midfielder Barry Johnston after 12 minutes that could see him miss the rest of the season.

Breslin added: "I thought we limited Crusaders to a couple of shots. We were unlucky not to get something out of the game. A lot of our play was good but they defended strongly.

"There was a good flow to the game at 0-0 but for some reason we were getting into good positions but weren't getting crosses in.

"Credit to Crusaders, they blocked things and defended for their lives. We're disappointed but that's life. We've played a lot worse than that and won.

"[For the goal] We lost the ball in the middle of the park when we had good possession but that's been typical. A lot of the mistakes we've been making have been getting punished."

Afterwards, Crusaders boss Stephen Baxter tentatively admitted that they were contenders for the title.

In previous seasons, the Crues lacked the necessary firepower but they have blinding pace on the flanks and recently signed highly rated goal-getter Stephen O'Flynn from Institute.

"There are four teams that can probably say: 'This is our best year to win the league'," Baxter said. "We're one of those four, I'm guessing." n Further coverage p77