Forsythe Blames “Poor” First Half for Crusaders’ Derby Loss

Following Friday night’s defeat, which left Crusaders in seventh place in the league table, defender Jordan Forsythe attributed his team’s loss in the north Belfast derby against Cliftonville to what he described as a “poor” first-half performance. Joe Gormley secured the sole goal of the match during the initial half, even as Cliftonville, known as the Reds, failed to convert several opportunities that could have widened their lead. Although Crusaders showed improvement in the second half and created their own chances to equalize, Forsythe expressed the view that they had put themselves in an overly challenging position to recover. Speaking to BBC Sport NI, Forsythe stated: “I think the first half performance was poor from us, we gave Cliftonville far too much of the ball and they are good with it, they work a lot on their shape and they’re good at pulling you out.” He added: “There was some good football from both sides, and it was a good advert for the league.” This outcome, combined with Portadown’s victory over Ballymena, resulted in the Crues falling out of the top six positions. Forsythe also conveyed his disappointment regarding the missed scoring chances by both himself and his teammates during the latter part of the match, despite creating opportunities. He further commented: “We came out in the second half and give it a good push, but the wee bit of luck when you were waiting on one to fall for you just wasn’t there tonight.” Forsythe concluded: “I think with the number of chances we had in the second half; we are disappointed because we should take them.”