Cliftonville boss Jim Magilton lamented the fact that his side were “second best all over the park” in their 2-0 defeat against Carrick Rangers.
Goals from Danny Gibson and Seanan Clucas condemned the Reds to their third successive league defeat.
And Magilton was critical of his side’s display in their loss at Taylors Avenue.
“Carrick Rangers deserved to win the game, we were poor in all aspects of our game,” he told BBC Sport NI.
“The two goals are extremely disappointing but there are very few excuses, we were just second best all over the park.”
The Reds manager went as far as to apologise to Cliftonville supporters for the lacklustre performance, as they slipped out of the top six in the Irish Premiership.
“We need to apologise to our fans they come and watch and want be entertained and Cliftonville fans stick with their players if they show guts and determination to try and get a result, but their goalkeeper didn’t really have to make many saves,” Magilton reflected.
“Our quality into the box wasn’t brilliant, our movement wasn’t brilliant and our desire to get on the end of things wasn’t brilliant, so if you have those ingredients, you’re going to come away with nothing and we were so poor.”