Cliftonville defender Sean Stewart said that his side’s 2-0 defeat against Carrick Rangers was “not acceptable”.

Goals from Danny Gibson and Seanan Clucas sealed the win for Carrick as Cliftonville fell to their third consecutive league defeat.

And Stewart admitted that the Reds players were disappointed with their display at Taylors Avenue.

“It’s a bad defeat, it is a tough pitch to play on and it is always tough coming here, but I just don’t think we were at it today,” he told BBC Sport NI.

“It’s not acceptable so it is back to the drawing board and go again.”

The Northern Ireland Under-21 international conceded that he can’t work out the reason for the Reds’ recent slide, which has saw them pick up just one win in their last five games.

“The performances the last few weeks we haven’t been at the races at all, I can’t put my finger on it, but it is something we need to sort out and something we need to get right quickly,” he continued.

“There are super players in this team, we saw it last season and we saw it at the start of this season.

“We have had a few bad performances, but we just need to pick ourselves up and go again.”