Danske Bank Premiership: Crusaders 1 Cliftonville 0
A THIRD loss of the campaign to Crusaders was bad enough for Cliftonville, but a horrific leg break for midfielder Ryan Catney was a real sickener.
The Reds could have closed the gap on the champions to seven points with a win on Saturday, but losing their midfield enforcer to the red card that followed his challenge on Howard Beverland halfway through the first half proved pivotal.
Michael Carvill’s goal on 55 minutes, after he was played in beautifully by Jordan Forsythe, separated the sides at the finish.
Cliftonville boss Gerard Lyttle was understandably downcast over Catney’s injury and questioned the ref’s decision to dismiss him.
“I was gutted for him to be honest, gutted for him and his wife and his kids,” said Lyttle.
“It wasn’t a nice thing to see any footballer suffering that and obviously going down to 10 men didn’t help us. It’s hard enough playing with 11 men against Crusaders. You can say it’s me with my Cliftonville goggles on, but it’s two players who were very committed going for the ball.
“It’s maybe just off a 50/50 in Crusaders’ favour. But I just don’t understand the sending-off. Cats has gone in for the ball. He has gone in fairly to the tackle and ended up with a broken leg.
“I thought it was harsh, the sending off. It’s not sour grapes or anything like that. It changed everything, we just haven’t had the rub of the green against Crusaders.”
Lyttle felt that his team reverted to a 4-4-2 formation for the game, had been giving Crusaders their fill of it and that Catney had been at the heart of that impressive effort.
“It was a big blow because we were on top at that stage,” insisted Lyttle. “
We were carving open a couple of chances, and I thought we were matching them physically and were controlling the game. It was a big question mark we’ve had over ou§r boys in terms of can we stand up to the physical side of the league.
“It’s great being applauded and people saying to you that you’re a great footballing side, but do you have the other side of it?
“I thought on Saturday we did. I thought we matched them all over the pitch. “I thought Jason McGuinness gave [Jordan] Owens very little in terms of an aerial threat. He won a lot of headers.
“The midfield battle between [Declan] Caddell and Forsythe against Ryan and Kym Nelson was well matched. And Chrissy Curran, playing the way that he has been playing, was immense.
“‘Cats’ is the same – I just said to him during the week that he’s got his mojo back and I thought that he was like the Catney of old. It’s just a shame now that obviously he’s going to be out for a long period.”
Lyttle revealed Catney went through an operation yesterday and that he had visited him in hospital after the match.
“He seemed upbeat,” said Lyttle.
“I went up to visit him on Saturday after the game and Cats was Cats – he was positive enough.”
Up next for Cliftonville is the visit of Portadown on Saturday. Lyttle is realistic enough to know that his team are now playing for second place.
“We’ll stay positive, there’s plenty of games to play and we’ll just keep going and try to win as many as possible,” he declared.
“Let’s be honest – the title’s Crusaders to lose and that’s the way it is, but we’ll just have to take care of our own house and keep focussing on trying to get into Europe”
Elsewhere on Saturday, Crusaders main title challengers Linfield beat Ballymena United 2-0, with Mark Stafford and Andrew Waterworth on target, while Glenavon beat Portadown 2-1 in the mid-Ulster derby.
Coleraine beat Ballinamallard 2-1 and Dungannon were 1-0 winners at Carrick.
