CLIFTONVILLE manager Paddy McLaughlin expects that Carrick Rangers will bring an organisation that will make it a tough afternoon on Saturday.

The Gers make the trip to Solitude for the second time this season (3pm kick-off) looking to put in a similar display to that on the opening day of the campaign which almost saw them take something.

McLaughlin has praised the job that Stuart King has done at the Loughshore Arena and feels that his players have bought into what their manager wants.

“It will be another tough game because they’re very well organised,” he said.

“They gave us trouble here on the first game of the season and it took us to score from a set-piece against them because it was a game of very few chances.

“It will be a tough game, they’re well drilled and Stuarty (King) has done well for them.

“I know what it’s like to come up with a side against the odds and he’s got his hands full with that. But he’s done brilliant at it and got a good response from the players.

“We look forward to it and especially at home. Our home form is brilliant, our record is really good, and the fans were superb on Tuesday night.

“Whenever the game went flat, the fans raised the noise levels a couple of notches and players responded to it. Hopefully they’ll do the same again on Saturday.”

McLaughlin named the same squad that ended Saturday's 1-1 draw at Portadown for Tuesday evening’s comfortable League Cup semi-final win over Ballymena United and the Derry native is confident that his squad depth is strong despite still being without Rory Hale and Chris Gallagher.

“We monitor sessions and we’ve had so many midweek games over the last couple of weeks and you’re hoping to go with a certain 11 and something will happen in between and it will change your mindset,” McLaughlin revealed.

“We know that we’ve got a good of players here. You look at the bench tonight: it’s the strongest bench and that’s without Rory Hale and Cricky Gallagher.

"We’ve got such a talented squad of players, while before we had a good 16 players and a couple of young lads and if we’d any injuries we were in trouble.

“Any side if they lose too many players they are stretched, but if you look at our bench without Hale and Gallagher who are yet to come in, we’ve got a real strong squad.

“It’s important we try and keep it as fresh as possible with a strong side and that we don’t change anything if it’s going well.

“We should have won the game on Saturday and last Tuesday - we should have seen two games out - but that happens sometimes. You get bumps along the way and when one player drops out, one drops in. I think we’re in as good a place now than we ever have been.”

Cliftonville’s gruelling Tuesday-Saturday schedule is now parked until the end of January to the relief of McLaughlin who was full of praise for his side’s commitment and dedication for a part-time squad.

“We haven’t got a Tuesday night training session done in five or six weeks because it’s all about recovery in between games,” admits McLaughlin.

“I know we’re probably victims of the cup runs because so many midweek games with the two cup runs we were on.

“The boys have been brilliant and got through it with flying colours and fair play to them.

“They’re in great shape every one of them, they look after themselves in-between and all on a part-time structure.

“Their commitment and dedication and that’s the rewards, playing in finals and they deserve to win medals. There is still a lot of work to do before we do that, but they deserve it because they work their socks off.”

With the League Cup final parked until March, McLaughlin is glad to get back to the bread-and-butter of the league.

“We’re glad it's parked up and out of the road,” McLaughlin reflects.

"It was brilliant to get there, the boys have been superb over the last couple of weeks with the gruelling schedule and it’s something to look forward to now.

“We’re glad to get back to the bread-and-butter stuff now, which is the league games.

“It was a tough run of fixtures which we had and Saturday schedules now suit us over the next couple of weeks and months.

“We’re delighted the previous schedule is out of the road and it’s something to look forward to in a few months.”