Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
RED THE RIOT ACT Angry Gray warns of player clear-out
BARRY GRAY says Cliftonville could be in for a busy conclusion to the transfer window after watching his side slump to yet another North Belfast derby defeat.
Early strikes from Jordan Owens and Colin Coates put Crusaders in total control at Solitude where, following second half dismissals for Coates and home defender Levi Ives, an injury time consolation from Jay Donnelly was as much as the hosts could muster.
It’s now almost three years since Cliftonville got the better of their near neighbours.
And though Gray’s responsibility for that statistic is minimal, the Reds boss has vowed to leave no stone unturned to improve his side’s fortunes.
“We essentially wasted the first 45 minutes of the game,” he said.
“We were much better after the break but, as I said to the players, isn’t it easy to play like that when you’re 2-0 down with nothing to lose?
“There was no big change of instruction at half-time or anything – the way we played in the second half was how we’d also set up at the start.
“We wanted to go out and have a real go but unfortunately we gave ourselves a mountain to climb right at the beginning.
“We are now four games in and, to date, there have been very few individual performances that have impressed me at all.
“Dishing out five-out-of-10 performances won’t be enough for me and, on that note, I would outline that if there was interest from other clubs in any current Cliftonville player, I would be open for discussion.
“It’s obvious that there may be the need for a further shake-up before the window closes.”
Visiting skipper Coates, who will sit out tomorrow night’s League Cup joust with Dundela through suspension, reflected: “We got off to the perfect start and pretty much killed the game with two early goals.
“That was something we’d targeted in training, getting at Cliftonville with set pieces because we knew we were bigger than them physically and thought the goalkeeper was maybe a bit hesitant so we’ve capitalised on that really well.
“In terms of my goal, everyone seemed to get sucked towards the ball but I just hung off at the back post and it’s come through to me and I’ve managed to put it away.
“If someone like Joe Gormley does that you’re talking about great striker’s instincts but, when a centre-half like me does it, it’s just hit me on the knee and gone in!
“In the second half, we had a bit more work to do and I probably didn’t help anyone by getting sent off! In fairness, I actually think I won the ball for the second booking but that’s neither here nor there, is it?
“Obviously Cliftonville went down to 10 men shortly afterwards so that evened things up again and, even though they scored right at the end, I always thought we were comfortable.”