Jeffrey refuses to play blame game
BALLYMENA United boss David Jeffrey refused to reach for the multitude of excuses available to him following his side’s defeat to Cliftonville — but did insist his men were unlucky not to claim a point at Solitude.
After taking an early lead through Ryan Mayse, the Sky Blues found themselves trailing when a Joe Gormley penalty and Chris Curran’s solo effort put the hosts in the driving seat, only for Conor Quigley to restore parity in the second half.
Jay Donnelly would have the final say, however, when he towered above everyone else in the area to plant a superb header past United keeper Ross Glendinning.
The contest represented United’s first outing in three weeks and, alongside the rustiness associated with such a hiatus, they went into battle with a string of names out through injury and suspension, while Tony Kane’s wedding kept him sidelined in addition to Steven McCullough attending the birth of his son.
Jeffrey, however, preferred to focus on the efforts of the players at his disposal.
“I don’t want to get into ex- cuses,” he said. “It was a strange situation to find ourselves in and something I’ve never experienced before, three weeks out of action, but we always just got on with it and looked forward to our next match.
“The gap wasn’t something we spoke too much about because you don’t want any negativity creeping in, it was just one of those things and we prepared as best we could to face Cliftonville.”
On the game itself, he added: “It’s a little bit tough to take and it’s probably harsh on us because I thought we had done enough to get something from the match.
“I wouldn’t say we did enough