Cliftonville make the trip to the Ballymena Showgrounds this evening (7.45pm kick-off) looking to build on their win over Carrick Rangers at a venue that has been unkind to them in recent years. 

It’s four years since Cliftonville last left Warden Street with a full complement of points and David Jeffrey will hope his side can maintain that unbeaten run. 

Manager Paddy McLaughlin admits he doesn’t have a squad in mind given the quick turnaround and with an extra competition to compete in this season, he maintains it is impossible for players to be featuring in all 50-games throughout the campaign. 

McLaughlin insists it is vital that he doesn’t flog his players ahead of a quick turnaround in league fixtures.

“They’ll be guessing as much as me because I don’t know who’ll be going in on Tuesday,” he admitted.  

“We’ll let the dust settle from Saturday and prepare for Tuesday with a light recovery session and assess the damage and see where we’re at. It’s good to have the depth and we’re very lucky to have that kind of quality and numbers. 

“It’s important that we don’t flog the players this year. I told the players this year that nobody will play the full game for the full season. Everybody will be rotated at some stage. 

“It’s impossible to play every game. We played 50 matches last year and we’ve got an extra competition this year, so it’s impossible to play 50-odd matches in the space of seven or eight months. It’s important that we rest and rotate when we can without jeopardising the result.”

The Derry native believes his squad is stronger than last season and reiterated the importance of becoming more ruthless at both ends of the pitch. 

“I think this is the best squad since I’ve been here,” he acknowledged. 

“Last year we ran Linfield really close and people said that we’d a great squad and I think it’s even better this year. I think the players that we lost were big losses, but I think we replaced them with slightly better. 

“I’ve said it before, we’re stronger this year and going forward we’ve got real talent. Defensively with young (Jamie) Robinson coming back and Luke Turner staying, it was a key signing for us. 

“It’s important that we become ruthless at both ends of the pitch if we want to challenge at the top end this year. That’s by keeping clean sheets and scoring goals. It’s difficult to do in this league but that’s the aim and we’ve got the players to do it.” 

One of the players that has caught McLaughlin and the eyes of the fans has been winger Stephen Mallon. 

McLaughlin was impressed by what he saw in his full league debut on Saturday and feels he will be a key component in what the Reds achieve this season. 

“Hopefully that’s only a glimpse of what he’s about,” McLaughlin reflected after Saturday’s win. 

“He’s brilliant when he’s at himself and he’s showed glimpses of what he’s about today. 

“He’s a bull and he’ll take defenders on and his ability to ghost past people with real high quality. He’s a top talent and we’re delighted to have him here. 

“It’s a great start for him. We were disappointed that he could only take a place on the bench last week because he is going to be key to what we can do this year. 

“I asked him a couple of times was he okay and did he need replacing, but he told me no chance, don’t be taking me off. That hunger to play and stay on the field was brilliant for us because we need that right throughout the squad.”