IT’S another Friday night fixture for Cliftonville as they head to Inver Park to face Larne (7.45pm kick-off).

Over the past 13 games, the North Belfast club has played five games including Tuesday’s County Antrim Shield tie and last Friday’s North Belfast derby against Crusdaers.

Cliftonville boss Paddy McLaughlin insists that all the recent emphasis has been looking after the squad and recovering after a gruelling schedule.

Larne hit the summit after Cliftonville were held to a draw in the North Belfast derby and Tiernan Lynch’s side defeated Newry City.

McLaughlin expects a high intensity clash between the sides in East Antrim but is more concerned about ensuring his side has recovered adequately in time for the game.

“It’s important that we look after ourselves,” McLaughlin said after Tuesday’s game against The Blues.

“It’s going to be high intensity from minute one to minutes 95 or whatever it takes. That game is laid up with two good football sides and it’s important for our boys with four games Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday – it’s a lot to ask of our boys and we haven’t really been doing much training for the last while.

“We’re recovering between the matches because of the demands on them, but I think we’ve rotated well too.

“We took boys off against Newry on the Saturday and last Tuesday against Carrick again.

“We left a few lads out tonight (against Linfield). The beauty of leaving boys out is I’m not too sure how many will come back in after the performance of the young players.

“It’s brilliant for the club that we’ve got so many young players coming through, but I do feel like we need to really recover after the last couple of games.

“We have rotated well, and the boys have done us proud, so we look forward to it now and we’ve a got a strong panel going to Larne on Friday night.”

The Reds go into Friday’s encounter off the back of their first domestic defeat since the opening day of the season after exiting the Toal’s County Antrim Shield to Linfield 5-4 on penalties.

McLaughlin opted to rotate his squad and gave youth the opportunity with Fynn Talley, Jamie Robinson, Odhran Casey and Sean Moore afforded game time from the start, and they all caught of the eye of their manager.

“We’re delighted with the performance,” reflected McLaughlin.

“Linfield made their changes as well, but when you see that we were probably the youngest side that we’ve ever put on the pitch, I thought they were fantastic right throughout.

“Maybe after a couple of minutes, we didn’t get up to the speed of the game straight away because they scored a brilliant goal right and early, but them then on in, throughout the 90 minutes I thought we were excellent.

“We’d a lot of young players out there and they held their own and they bettered Linfield in a lot of parts of the game.

“I’m delighted with the performance, delighted with the future because we can see that the future is definitely bright at the club.

“We’ve so much young talent coming through and we can only hold them back for so long.

“I’ve just warned the senior players out there, that we can only hold these young players back for so long. They’re coming for their places and they will get their chances like they did tonight.

“They’ve definitely given me something to think about from here on in. These young boys are ready to play and they’re not here just to make up the numbers.

“I’m delighted with them and delighted with the performance, and I think the fans appreciated the performance as well.”

Sean Moore again caught the eye throughout the ninety minutes and produced a cheeky panenka penalty in the shootout.

But McLaughlin is adamant that he must be afforded protection by referees, something he felt he did receive on the night from whistler Jamie Robinson.

“I think we’re all in the same way of thinking that Sean Moore’s performance was incredible,” McLaughlin acknowledged.

“What a talent. It’s important that we don’t put too much on him and too much spotlight on him.

“He showed the fans tonight that he oozes class and ability to play at this level and maybe beyond in the future.

“We’ve got to look after and protect him and not just me as a manager or coach at the club – it’s important that referees look after him.

“There was a couple of tackles there tonight that I was a bit worried for him at times because opposition see talent like that, and they try and stop it.

“It’s important that referees look after young players, and I think Jamie Robinson was excellent – he did protect him.

“He didn’t let anything go that you wouldn’t expect. It’s important that referee’s protect young players.”