GERARD LYTTLE maintains the next game is important for Cliftonville as they target a seventh-placed league finish to secure a spot in the European playoffs at the end of the season.

The Reds are without a league win in the month and their last opportunity before the league split comes at home to Carrick Rangers on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

Assistant manager Lyttle believes there are aspects of their game that need tidying up before the visit of Stephen Baxter's men, but is happy with their current work rate and effort.

“Obviously, the next game is the most important game - I said it on Saturday when we played Ballymena,” Lyttle outlined.

“It’s just small wee things that we can tidy up on. We’re still playing good football and working hard.

“The boys are grafting and if seventh spot is the next best thing for us in terms of giving us an opportunity to qualify for Europe, then I think that will have to be the way forward.”

Cliftonville arrested their losing streak with a draw against Coleraine on Tuesday evening, with Lyttle adamant they were unfortunate not to pick up all three points.

“We realised that we needed to win the game and a draw was never going to be any good for us,” he acknowledged.

“When we got the goal, I thought it was a goal that we deserved-  a great finish from Ryan Curran, a top player.

“Then I don’t know whether it was a panic. I was talking to Odhran and he’s probably one of our most consistent players all season. He’s a top player and top defender (but) he had a slip in the box and it’s brought Shevy [Matthew Shevlin] down and obviously, the ref has given a penalty.

“I haven’t seen it, but Tony [Clarke] doesn’t get too many wrong, to be fair to him. Again, that was disappointing but the players reacted and after going 2-1 down, we kept going to the end and obviously Joe got the penalty and we scored it again.

“We were just very unlucky and now we just need to refocus and get ready for Carrick at the weekend and go again.”

On their bid to secure a seventh-placed finish, Lyttle is under no illusions that momentum is important and is hopeful that victory at the weekend could provide a springboard for the remainder of the campaign.

“This club has been used to challenging every season, whether it is Europe or whether it is cups or whether it’s for leagues,” Lyttle pointed out.

“It will be no different. We’ve been in those positions before and it is a good group of boys. They will keep going and they are honest.

“Our next focus is Carrick on Saturday and trying to get a win on Saturday and with that win, carry momentum. It’s momentum that we probably need to finish strongly for the end of the season.”