Cliftonville supporters were full of praise for boss Eddie Patterson following their unlikely 1-0 win over HNK Cibalia at Windsor Park.

The Croatian full-timers were heavy favourites to ease through their Europa League Second Qualifying Round tie and, though the teams will settle issues in Vinkovci next Thursday, the Reds do at least have something to cling on to following Ciaran Caldwell's late winner on Thursday night.

The Red Army sang the manager's praises as they exited the Kop stand and were effusive in their plaudits on Internet forums for his victory in the tactical battle over opposite number Stanko Mrsic.

Patterson studied DVDs of their little-known opponents and used his side's pre-season programme to work on a new formation to assist them on the continental stage and, having worked wonders at the halfway stage of the contest, the boss was keen to pass the superlatives onto his players.

“I can only do so much, it's those boys who go out onto the pitch and do the work,” he said.

“I did what research I could but picking up Cibalia's team-sheet didn't really do me any favours — all their names seemed to end in the same last four letters!

“I couldn't determine what sort of formation they would employ, so I thought it best to watch the early part of the game from the stand just to get a better look at it.

“At the end of the day, though, it's the players who put the hard shift in and they showed superb discipline to stick to the system we've been working on.

“Cibalia opened up a few gaps on us here and there but, by and large, we shaped up pretty well and coped with what they had to throw at us.”

Patterson was keen to stress the team effort which engineered an historic first European win on home soil — albeit at Windsor and not Solitude — but identified two players who particularly stood out to him.

“I thought George McMullan was superb,” he said.

“The wee man kept driving us forward and was a constant thorn in Cibalia's side, always snapping away at them and making sure they didn't get a minute's peace.

“He always wanted the ball, knew when to keep hold of it, knew when to pass and did an excellent job of helping us keep our shape.” Caldwell's 82nd minute strike makes him just the second Cliftonville player in history to have scored a winning goal on the continental stage and it was the last one — Mark Holland — who caught the eye in his new role as a defender last night.

“Mark came to me at the start of pre-season and asked if we'd consider using him as a centre-half,” explained Patterson. Obviously he's been a striker in his

time here, though we used him at the back for a few games a couple of seasons ago, and we decided we'd give him an opportunity to show us what he can do there.

“In our friendly games, he did reasonably well and improved with each new match.

“His fitness is building all the time and he was another player who didn't put a foot wrong against Cibalia.

“The whole team deserve immense credit, though.

“It's a fantastic result for our club and for the Irish League but we know that, in the baking heat of Croatia next week, we'll have our work cut out to make it count.”

And the travelling Red Army will once again place their faith in Patterson's tactical nous.