JIM Magilton believes that Ballymena United are a team with momentum behind them as he prepares his Cliftonville side to face the Braidmen on Saturday.

Cliftonville make the trip to the Warden Street Showgrounds (3pm kick-off) hoping to dent the hosts’ run of four successive wins.

Ballymena moved into fifth with a 4-1 win at Carrick Rangers on Tuesday and sit just two points off the top, although having played a game more than the joint league leaders.

Although Magilton acknowledged that the Sky Blues are a team in form, he is also confident with his team’s recent displays and feels they are going in the right direction. 

“They’ve got momentum and a really good player in Ben [Kennedy],” he acknowledged. 

“Again, I think we’re building momentum and I’ve liked the way we’ve played in the last couple of games. I think the new players that have come in, we’ve managed to bed them in and they’d really have enjoyed the atmosphere tonight because that’s what this stadium can bring - there was lots of noise. The boys know that there is a real desire for us to be competitive.”

The Reds come into Saturday’s game of the back of a 0-0 draw with Linfield on Tuesday evening, a game in which Magilton felt his players were more than a match for the Blues. 

“I thought there was lots of quality in the game, which is important, because we are trying to drive the quality in the game,” he insists. 

“There are lots of good players on the pitch who played really well. There is a recognition and huge respect for what David [Healy] has achieved at the club and the players etc, but we were more than a match I felt, especially in the second half when we really took the game to them.”

Magilton puts their positive opening to the season down to their late recruitment and the return of key players from injuries but revealed that Shea Gordon picked up an injury in training prior to Tuesday evenings and clash and will join Sean Stewart [concussion] on the sidelines. 

“I think the window helped us really massively,” he admits. 

“The board was fantastic in terms of their financial back up and support. We got players in that we really wanted to get in, that were going to make a difference to us. We’re trying to get players back as well in terms of Rory back on the pitch, which is a massive plus for us. 

“Ryan Curran is a massive plus and Rory Donnelly getting back on the pitch. The one downside is that Shea Gordon has got injured in training which is a negative in this week for us. We’re going to drive on hopefully and build on this.”

Rory Hale was expected to return to the squad for the weekend’s game but returned against Linfield and featured for over a quarter of an hour in his first appearance since July with his manager branding him a catalyst for all things good. 

“It’s huge because he is a catalyst for lots of good things that we try and do in the game,” he noted. 

“We still have to manage him, in terms of being his first outing. We’re conscious of making sure of the right time to get him in because he is so enthusiastic and he is so passionate and wants to play, but we’ve got to manage that to.”