Danske Bank Premiership
Cliftonville v Warrenpoint
(Saturday, 3pm, Solitude)
CLIFTONVILLE manager Paddy McLaughlin is expecting Warrenpoint to prove another tough test when the sides meet tomorrow (Saturday).
Warrenpoint make the trip to North Belfast looking to build on a solid start to the league season with four points from their opening three fixtures.
Barry Gray’s side visited Solitude before the season started for a pre-season friendly which ended in a 2-2 draw.
McLaughlin will be hoping his side are able to bounce back from their mid-week set-back when their defence of the Co Antrim Shield ended with a late 1-0 defeat to Glentoran with Dale Gorman scoring the winner two minutes from the end of normal time.
The Reds boss is hoping the competitive fixtures over the last few weeks will stand by his side.
“We’re definitely expecting a tough game,” admits McLaughlin.
“We played them in pre-season and I thought they were excellent. We drew 2-2 but I thought on the day they were probably the better side than us, even though it was only a friendly.
“I thought they were well-organised and worked hard, you’d expect something similar in the game against them on Saturday especially with intensity.
“We’ve been excellent for the past couple of weeks and we’ll be better prepared for that game. The intensity of our game has gone up as well with a couple of competitive fixtures under our belts. I’m sure it will be an interesting game and tough, but it’s one we believe we can win as long as we work hard and play at our level.”
McLaughlin has been delighted with the form of midfielder Liam Bagnall since the season resumed and also reserved special praise for Thomas Maguire, who made the most of a starting place at last weekend with a goal and an assist.
“Liam Bagnall has been superb since we’ve come back,” said McLaughlin.
“At this stage of the season last year he was sitting on two or three bookings, were now he is a lot more disciplined in his game.
“What he brings to the game is fantastic, he brings aggression, intensity, organisation and what he’s not doing now is picking up silly bookings. A lot of the time last year he was probably an easy target for some refs, it’s easy to book him early in the game so as not to have any trouble out of him. This year he’s taken away the silly bookings and he’s showing signs he’s going to be a key player for us.
“You challenge the players to come in and earn the right to play and Thomas Maguire earned that. He’s trained well and he’s been excellent for us in the games that he’s been called into.
“He’s got the potential to be a star in the Irish league and he’s one of the best young players in the league. If he produces that kind of form every week then he’s going to be some player for us.”
Cliftonville’s early season injury troubles show no sign of letting up with Aaron Donnelly the latest casualty in Tuesday night’s Shield defeat to the Glens, having welcomed back Garry Breen against the East Belfast outfit.
McLaughlin gave an update of injuries to dates and has again stressed he will have the upmost faith in youngsters that may get the nod in the coming weeks.
“Aaron Donnelly went to hospital after the game for an x-ray, but it’s not looking good at the minute,” revealed Mclaughlin.
“We’ve had such a bad run of luck with injuries, Conor McMenamin is carrying a bit of a hamstring injury, Donal Rocks and Calvin McCurry have both done their cruciate. Levi Ives did his metatarsal, it’s an incredible injury list with three matches into the season.
“I have to put my faith in young players at the club coming through, opportunities will come their way-. It’s a busy schedule and we’ve got to trust the young boys to come in when called upon. Young lads like Aaron Donnelly, Donal Rocks and Odhran Casey have came-in and been brilliant for us. If boys get the nod, I’m sure they’ll come in and do the business for us.”
Cliftonville’s busy schedule continues on Tuesday evening when they travel to Stangmore Park to take on Dungannon Swifts (7.45pm) and boss McLaughlin is hoping for a halt to the injury run.
“The games are coming thick and fast but it’s the same for everybody,” added the Reds boss.
“The only disappointing thing for us is we’re picking up a lot of serious injuries, it’s not even niggles or knocks, it’s long term injuries and we can’t really afford too many more because we’ll struggle to field a team very shortly.
“Like I said, we’ve got some brilliant young players at the club and the development staff and coaches have done a fantastic job over the last couple of years. If the young boys get the nod they won’t let us down, they haven’t in the past and I don’t expect them do so.”
