Paddy McLaughlin has pointed to the moment when Cliftonville's title challenge came to an end.
The 2-1 defeat at home to Dungannon Swifts on March 18 was a blow in more ways than one, but for McLaughlin that result put paid to their ambitions of winning the Gibson Cup.
The Reds boss feels the defeat to the Swifts left his side with too much to do in terms of the title race, but he is determined to keep on fighting to secure European football.
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“I think the damage was done when we dropped points at home to Dungannon Swifts," he said.
“That was the end of the title challenge realistically.
“There is still European football to fight for which is a huge incentive for the players and for the club.
“We know the investment other clubs can afford and it’s becoming more and more difficult to compete at the top end.
“It’s important we keep going to try and secure that European place and if not, we will go try through the play-off which will be difficult.
“We can’t be too down as the players are competing against really good sides and they haven’t let us down.
“They keep going to the death and we will keep that going until the end of the season."
Cliftonville had to show their character against Coleraine on Friday night as they battled back twice to secure a point with Ronan Hale scoring late in each half to make it four 2-2 draws in a row between the sides.
“We are disappointed with the draw as we felt we should have won the game but fixtures against Coleraine are always great advertisements for the League," said McLaughlin.
“Both sets of supporters got their value for money and I’m sure they’re proud of their teams as they both went at it from start to finish.
“We’re disappointed with the draw. I thought we created numerous chances to take the lead before we conceded and then we got back to level terms but a couple of individual errors that saw us go behind again.
“I thought our play was excellent, we scored two good goals and we had three or four other good opportunities.
“All in all, we are disappointed we didn’t win the game as we knew how important it was to cling onto the coat tails of Larne.
“The draw was no use to us so we had to go for it late in the game and the players gave everything they had and emptied the tank.
“They have a never-say-die attitude and got a point which was the very least they deserved.
“We will take point and move on as there’s no damage in our fight for second as Linfield drew and Glentoran were beat.
“There’s still a lot to play for in terms of European football as all the teams will feel they are still in contention."
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