Cliftonville manager Jim Magilton criticised the decision to award Larne a penalty in his side’s 3-1 defeat against the Irish Premiership champions.
Larne were given a spot-kick after Andy Ryan was fouled by Jonny Addis, who was subsequently sent-off.
Replays suggested that the challenge occurred outside the area and Magilton believed the decision turned the tide of the game, which was 1-1 when the penalty was awarded by referee Christopher Morrison.
“At the time I thought he was well outside the box, I thought it was a red card, but the referee just needed to take a second, he was very quick with the penalty decision,” Magilton told BBC Sport NI.
“I thought Jonny had to go – he was the last man, and he has clearly pushed him, so the red card was without debate.
“But it was never a penalty, he was never anywhere near the box in terms of being inside, so I thought it was a really poor decision.”
‘We pressed the panic button’
Magilton also expressed his disappointment with Cliftonville’s defending in the lead up to the penalty, with Ryan getting onto a long ball forward ahead of Addis and Michael Newberry.
“It was bad defending, you don’t get beat by one ball at this level of football,” he admitted.
“Andy Ryan is a predator, he reacted first. We had two experienced defenders against one striker and that should never happen, it was too easy, and we got punished.”
Cliftonville were leading at Solitude heading into the second half following Rory Donnelly’s early header.
But Larne were a different side after the break, with former Reds defender Tomas Cosgrove equalising soon after half-time.
Ryan then put them ahead from the spot before substitute Paul O’Neill added a third two minutes later as they moved level on points with Cliftonville with two games in hand.
Magilton was frustrated that his side were unable to heed warnings delivered in his half-time team talk of Larne’s renewed vigour after the break.
“It was really disappointing, we spoke at half-time about what was going to happen next in terms of Larne, they were going to press and we had to defend at least for the first 15 minutes until we got a foothold in the game,” he explained.
“I think we pressed the panic button so it played out as we suggested it might at half-time and ultimately, they’re a team that sniff blood and when they do, they punish you.”
