Ben Wilson off the Cliftonville bench to cap second-half scoring

​Jim Magilton’s side made the trip to Dungannon bolstered by a derby loss for Sports Direct Premiership leaders Linfield on Friday.

And Cliftonville returned to the changing rooms following the final whistle at Stangmore Park to further good news of surprise dropped points by both Larne and Crusaders – the sides positioned above and below, respectively – to the teams joint bottom in Ballymena United and Newry City.

It was a weekend in which Cliftonville gained a significant boost – but one which only arrived off a fightback following the break.

In-form Matty Lusty put Dungannon into a first-half lead.

But Cliftonville regrouped during the interval as Joe Gormley and Ronan Hale each hit the net after the interval before the hour mark to give the visitors the upper hand.

Substitute Wilson then stepped off the sidelines for a quickfire brace in the closing moments to increase the margin of victory and cement an emphatic final scoreline somewhat out of context to Dungannon’s first-half endeavour.

"We were second-best first half - I thought Dungannon were absolutely outstanding,” said Magilton on BBC Radio Ulster. "We were second-best all over the pitch, just half a second late in everything we attempted to do.

"It's credit to Dungannon, the players, Rodney (McAree, manager) and Dixie (Robinson, assistant manager) for setting the team up the way they did.

"We needed half-time.

"Once we got to half-time we made minor adjustments - basically just increased work-rate and to get on the frontfoot and higher up the pitch.

"We started the second half brightly and then obviously we managed to score a few goals.

"Dungannon caused more than a few threats.”

Wilson added to his impressive goal tally following a summer switch to Cliftonville from Brighton.

"Ben (Wilson) has shown all season how prolific he is, especially in or around the six-yard box,” said Magilton. "He is very clinical, so delighted that he gets the brace.

"He wasn't well last week, came off the bench and scored (v Crusaders) and, again, he came off the bench today and scored a brace.

"So we're chuffed to bits and obviously delighted with the result.”

However, despite satisfaction at the final whistle of a victory which extended Cliftonville’s winning league run to four fixtures, Magilton delivered words of warning to his players

"It's a broken record but we can't play that badly first half then expect second half to come out,” he said. "Then it's a test of the wonderful character of the players and I'm delighted with the players showing that character and resilience.

"We have to be better...we were very, very good last week then weren't so good for 45 minutes today.

"But, again, questions were asked of the players and they responded magnificently."